«Sanctions hygiene neglected.» The US may deprive Russia of part of its shadow fleet
The Russian shadow tanker fleet, created to transport oil bypassing price caps, is under threat. Sanctions imposed on several vessels and their owners may only be the beginning.
The US is already selectively imposing sanctions. They were first imposed in October on Lumber Marine SA from the UAE and its tanker SCF Primorye, as well as on Ice Pearl Navigation Corp from Turkey and its tanker Yasa Golden Bosphorus. The vessels entered Russian ports and transported Russian oil, as stated by the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). By the end of the year, the US sanctions list already included 11 such tankers.
Following the same pattern, the US may extend sanctions to another 100 tankers of the shadow fleet, including three-quarters of Sovcomflot’s tankers (it is believed to have 80 tankers), writes Craig Kennedy, an employee at the Davis Center at Harvard University and an expert in the Russian oil industry.
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