Six Russian tankers were included in the ones imposed by last week. This is the first time Washington has imposed sanctions on tankers before they even sailed, let alone before carrying cargo. The sanctions imposed last week by the US caused the price of oil to be ejected and the cost of tanker fares increased, as the outgoing government Biden took steps to harm Russia’s oil exports and prevent Moscow’s efforts to build its own fleet. ADVERSE Reuters in an overview, found that the six tankers built in Zvezda shipyards were among 183 ships included in the list of sanctions. These include Nursultan Nazarbayev, Alexander Beggrov, Alexey Bogollyubov and three that have not yet been named and referred to by the codes as Zvezda 131080, Zvezda 131060 and Zvezda 131040. Russian shipping company, Sovcomflot, is the buyer of the tankers Alexander Beggrov and Alexey Bogollyubov according to the text mentioned in the sanctions, while the shipping arm of the oil company Rosneft, Rosneftflot is the buyer of the other four tankers. Both shipping companies are under US sanctions. Rosneft and the yard representatives did not respond to Reuters requests to comment on the issue. The Ministry of Transport and Sovcomflot also refused to comment on the issue. The Directorate of the Ministry of Finance’s Foreign Property Audit Office did not respond directly to a request to comment on the matter. CORVERSE Sanctions target the so-called “shadow fleet” used by Russia to avoid the price ceiling imposed by G7 countries at the end of 2022, which prohibits insurance and chartering by western providers for Russian oil sold at a price of over $60 per barrel. The submission of ships still being built under the sanctions could make it difficult for Russia to justify their completion costs, said a source of the oil industry involved in the Russian oil trade. Russia is to face a shortage of tankers for its oil exports after sanctions, as over 60% of the oil tankers registered have entered Russian ports in the last two months, showed a survey by Reuters based on maritime data. The lack of ships for Russian oil has already led to a sharp increase in fares worldwide. Zvezda shipyards, which were established in 2015, are one of the top Russian shipyards and the only one in the country to be able to build large-capacity ships for oil and gas. The shipyard itself also suffered US sanctions last week. Source: RES – ICM
Six Russian tankers were included in US sanctions
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