According to the data Bloomberg, almost every Russian oil tanker hit by US sanctions has been idle for months.
As the publication writes, the effectiveness of the sanctions demonstrated that the United States is capable of destroying the chain of oil supplies from Russia, if Washington so desires.
Key facts:
- Since October 2023, 40 vessels involved in the Russian oil trade have been placed on the US sanctions list, mostly for violating the price limit. Only one of them, “SKF Primorya”, was able to continue its work after being included in the list.
- The price caps and sanctions are aimed at reducing Russia’s revenue from oil sales by limiting its access to Western services such as insurance and shipping if the price of oil exceeds a set limit of $60 a barrel.
- Russia tried to circumvent the sanctions by creating a “shadow fleet” of tankers and using other methods.
- The US has stepped up monitoring of sanctions compliance, targeting Russian-linked traders and shipowners. In February, Sovcomflot and 14 of its tankers were sanctioned.
Currently, the sanctioned vessels are idle and scattered around the world.
Among the ships:
- Eight Sovkomflot tankers located near the Russian Pacific ports of Vladivostok and Nakhodka. One of them later went to the Suez Canal, and the other was taken to China;
- another cluster of Sovcomflot tankers is in the Black Sea;
- three ships are in the Baltic, three more at anchor in Ust-Luz and near Estonia;
- ten Hennesea tankers are located off the coast of China and South Korea. Most others are near Port Said in the eastern Mediterranean.
