Russian shadow fleet anchored after new US sanctions

14 January 12:41

At least 65 oil tankers have anchored in various locations, including the coasts of China and Russia, since the United States announced a new package of sanctions on January 10. This is confirmed by ship tracking data released on Monday, Komersant ukrainskyi reports citing Reuters.

According to the Reuters analysis, which is based on the MarineTraffic and LSEG ship tracking systems, five of the tankers stopped at Chinese ports, seven more anchored off Singapore, and the rest stopped near Russia in the Baltic Sea and the Far East.

Last Friday, the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Russian oil producers Gazprom Neft and Surgutneftegaz, as well as 183 ships carrying Russian oil, aiming to limit the revenues Moscow uses to finance its war against Ukraine.

The cessation of trade in these tankers puts additional pressure on vessels that have already been subject to previous U.S. sanctions. Among them are another 25 oil tankers that were anchored in various locations as of Monday, including areas near Iranian ports and near the Suez Canal.

Some ports had taken action even before the latest restrictions were imposed. According to traders, last week the Shandong Ports Group banned tankers under US sanctions from entering its ports.

Analysts estimate that about 10% of the world’s tanker fleet is subject to US sanctions.

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“The impact of these sanctions should support the tanker market as the supply of vessels in the overall fleet is reduced, but the real growth potential will come when other exporters compensate for the lost volumes,”

– said Jefferies analyst Omar Nocta in a Monday note.

The average daily revenue of supertankers on Monday increased by more than 10% compared to the previous day and amounted to about $26,000, according to market estimates.

Some charterers were already scrambling to secure vessels on Friday after the sanctions were announced, indicating a reduced supply of vessels.

“Rising demand for exports to India and China from outside Russia will increase demand for unauthorized tankers,”

– trade analytics platform Kpler reported on Monday.

The shadow fleet and the fight against it

According to Michelle Wiese Bockmann, chief analyst at Lloyd’s List Intelligence, an active shadow fleet carrying Iranian, Russian and Venezuelan oil, has about 669 tankers. Of this number, 250-300 tankers were usually engaged in the transportation of Russian oil.

The US is imposing sanctions on shadow fleet vessels at a time when Russia has reached record exports of petroleum products over the past 5 months.

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Остафійчук Ярослав
Editor