2023-11-24 13:49:40
Illustrative photo
Russian oil workers began to experience difficulties finding tankers to carry their barrels after the United States began to impose sanctions against the Kremlin’s “shadow fleet” and launched an investigation that covered three dozen ship carriers around the world, writes finanz.
Oil companies that export through Baltic Sea ports are unable to find ships for some of their cargoes to be shipped in November, a trader working in the region told Reuters.
According to four agency sources in the shipping industry, three major Greek tanker companies – Minerva Marine, Thenamaris and TMS Tankers – have refused to work with Russian oil.
Owning a fleet of 100 tankers capable of handling almost all the exported oil from Russia’s western ports of Primorsk, Ust-Luga and Novorossiysk, Greek shipping magnates have carried Russian barrels for decades and continued to do so even after almost all Western companies had left the market.
But the US decision to impose sanctions on five tankers carrying Russian oil at prices above the $60 ceiling changed the situation.
“If there is no shortage of oil tankers yet, then the oil products market has already begun to have problems with the physical availability of vessels for some dates,” a source told Reuters.
According to the agency’s interlocutors, there have been no interruptions in the supply of oil directly. However, the cost of chartering tankers has soared: renting a ship to India costs $10-11 million, although at the beginning of October it was $8 million, and in September – only $5 million.
Oil workers are forced to increasingly rely on the “shadow fleet” – old, scrapped tankers that sail with their transponders turned off to evade sanctions. But traders fear the ship shortage could worsen.
“The shadow fleet may not be enough to transport all of Russia’s oil,” a Reuters source says.
Noticed a mistake? Please select it and press Ctrl+Enter
#Putins #shadow #fleet #News #Belarus #latest #news #today