More than 60 tankers with Russian oil drop anchor after US imposes new sanctions - Reuters
At least 65 oil tankers are drifting off the coasts of China, Russia, Singapore and the Far East after the United States announced a new package of sanctions on January 10.
This is reported by Reuters with reference to ship tracking data, Censor.NET reports.
According to Reuters' analysis based on MarineTraffic and LSEG data, five of the tankers were near Chinese ports, while seven more anchored off Singapore and the rest stopped near Russia in the Baltic Sea and the Far East.
"On Friday(January 10 - ed.), the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions against Russian oil companies Gazprom Neft and Surgutneftegaz, as well as 183 ships carrying Russian oil, as it targets the revenue Moscow used to finance its war with Ukraine," the agency writes.
Stopping the trade in these tankers increases pressure on ships that have already suffered from previous US sanctions, as 25 oil tankers have already been idle in various places, including near Iranian ports and near the Suez Canal, according to an analysis of ship tracking.
It is noted that some ports had taken a number of measures even before the imposition of US sanctions on January 10. Thus, last week, traders said that Shandong Port Group had banned tankers under US sanctions from entering its ports.
Analysts estimate that about 10% of the world's oil tanker fleet is under US sanctions.
On January 10, the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced new sanctions against the "shadow" tanker fleet, which allows Russia to export oil bypassing restrictions imposed by the G7 countries.
