Half a million tons of Russian oil products were trapped at sea

LSEG data released Wednesday, January 15, shows nearly 500,000 metric tons of Russian petroleum products are stuck on tankers hit by US sanctions.

How writes Reuters, New sanctions imposed on January 10 by the United States affected more than 180 courts and insurance companies, adding to the impact of similar restrictions imposed by the United Kingdom and the European Union.

Among those caught latest US sanctions vessels – nine tankers that loaded oil products at Russian ports on the Baltic and Black Seas in December and January. Four of them – Cup, Aquatica, Turaco and Onyx – carry a total of about 280,000 tonnes of fuel oil destined for India, Turkey and Singapore, according to LSEG.

Another of the tankers, the Ariadne, loaded about 35,000 tons of oil in the Russian Baltic port of Ust-Luga in December. According to shipping data, it is drifting near the Egyptian port of Port Said.

The four other vessels on the sanctions list are carrying a total of about 160,000 tons of ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel and gasoil of Russian origin. One of them – Pravasi – is unloaded at the Brazilian port of Santos. Three others – “Symphony”, “Jupiter” and “Talisman” – are heading to Turkey, according to LSEG.

Even with a transition period allowing cargoes already agreed to be unloaded, concerns about penalties have slowed activity, traders said.

In the meantime, three tankers carrying more than 2 million barrels of Russian oil are floating in the waters off eastern China and can't ship after the United States imposed new sanctions against the largest oil companies in the Russian Federation on Friday, January 10.

The US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control has imposed sanctions against Russia's two largest oil companies, Gazprom Neft and Surgutneftegaz, as well as ship insurance providers Ingosstrakh and Alfastrakhovanie.

According to the Financial Times, the measures blacklist 183 “shadow fleet” vessels involved in the export of energy resources from the Russian Federation. India is set to abandon oil tankers sanctioned by the United States for their role in carrying cargo for Russia, another example of the impact of Washington's measures on the global oil market.

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