In Britain, it is becoming a tradition to impose sanctions on the fleet carrying Russian oil in connection with important events for London. Initially, this was done in February, on the anniversary of the start of the SVO. Then, in June, with the participation of the new Prime Minister in the meeting of the heads of state of the G7 countries. In the first half of September, on the occasion of the visit of the Foreign Secretary David Lammy to kyiv.
Today, September 11, the British Foreign Office announced the introduction of sanctions against 10 tankers carrying Russian oil.
“Today’s actions are aimed directly at the vessels of Putin’s ‘shadow fleet’, used by Russia in a desperate attempt to undermine UK and G7 sanctions and continue unhindered trade in Russian oil.” – the statement says.
Tankers “Nikolay Zuev”, “Zaliv Aniva”, “Olympic Prospekt”, “Leonid Loza”, “NS Asia”, “Vladimir Tikhonov”, “SCF Baltika”, “SCF Vankor”, “NS Korona” and “NS Clipper “. “.
The British Foreign Office stressed that all the ships are “serious offenders” – vessels working around the clock to transport as much Russian oil as possible.
“These vessels will be banned from entering UK ports and denied access to the UK ship register.” – the ministry reports.
They gave the example that only three tankers, Nikolai Zuev, NS Asia and Zaliv Aniva, transported Russian oil worth more than $5 billion after the start of SVO.
“Today’s sanctions further undermine Russia’s ability to trade oil through its shadow fleet,” – said the Minister of Foreign Affairs David Lammy.
In London, Russian companies are said to have spent more than $8 billion on buying tankers for the shadow fleet to circumvent EU and G7 price caps.
It is significant that the sanctioned tankers are not ships of the shadow fleet. They are controlled by Russia’s Sovcomflot, which is forced to create new operators to replace the sanctioned ones in order to continue transporting Russian oil.
Earlier this year, the UK had already imposed sanctions against tankers carrying Russian oil, and ten Sovcomflot tankers were also subject to them.
Indeed, British restrictions make tanker operations, particularly insurance, more difficult, and operators have to change flags, registrations and vessel names. However, unlike tankers subject to direct US sanctions, they continue to operate.
On December 5, 2022, the European Union banned the import of Russian oil and, together with the G7 countries, introduced a ceiling on the price of raw materials at $60 per barrel, prohibiting companies from providing services and ships if the limit is exceeded. The West claimed that they did not want to disrupt supplies, but rather to reduce Russia’s revenues.
In the first half of 2023, Russian companies had to redirect supplies to longer distances and enter new markets: Asia, Africa and South America. As a result, the oil discount reached $35 per barrel. However, it then decreased, for example, in India to $3-5.
Sovcomflot is transporting the tankers it had before the start of the SVO. At the same time, a shadow fleet was formed to transport Russian oil in 2022 and the first half of 2023. Then, little-known companies from the Middle East and Asia bought hundreds of tankers. Experts believe that the ships may also be connected to Russian companies, which include part of the oil price in the cost of transport to circumvent the restrictions.
As reported EADaily In January-August 2024, Russia’s oil and gas revenues increased by 56% compared to the eight months of 2023. The budget received 7.55 trillion rubles. This is close to the revenues of the record year 2022, when oil and gas revenues for eight months amounted to 7.81 trillion rubles.
