Bloomberg: US Sanctions cause almost half of oil tankers to grind to a halt
NEW YORK, USA (Svidomi) — Bloomberg has found that almost half of the 50 tankers have stopped carrying oil from Russia that following US sanctions since October 2023.
Between December 10 and 12, eight vessels were added to the sanctions list. Another 24 tankers were sanctioned on December 20, when the US imposed restrictions on SUN Ship Management D Ltd., which manages the oil tankers transferred to Sovcomflot. On January 18, Hennesea Holdings Ltd., a UAE-based company that owns 18 vessels, was sanctioned. On February 8, restrictions were imposed on the 50th vessel - a tanker of the Liberian company NS Leader Shipping Incorporated.
In fact, out of the 50 oil tankers used by Russia to deliver its crude oil, at least 21 are idle.
According to the news agency, the last NS Leader vessel made an immediate U-turn off the coast of Portugal on 8 February, after the US imposed sanctions. At the time, it was heading for a Russian port in the Baltic Sea.
The US Treasury reported that the restrictions "achieve both goals" - to deprive Russia of profits from fuel sales and influence the stability of energy markets. Moscow, however, still uses a shadow fleet.
In December 2022, the Group of Seven countries set a ceiling oil price of $60 per barrel, which was supposed to preserve the Russian oil market while depriving the Kremlin of petroleum exports (petrodollars). Limits on petroleum products were introduced two months later. Last year, this system was heavily criticised as Moscow found workarounds and some Western companies continued to traffic oil.
