Secret fleet of 600 tankers transporting Russian oil around the world – media

Journalists learned that the Kremlin is using front companies in Dubai and Hong Kong. Tankers are bought in Europe or use old ones that would otherwise go for recycling.

Importers from all over the world still buy Russian oil. But even those who watch these deliveries have a hard time telling exactly who these mysterious Russian “black gold” suppliers are. CNN writes about it.

As economic sanctions against Russia intensify, more ships are joining the shadow fleet that delivers Russia’s exported oil to customers.

According to industry representatives, this group includes around 600 ships, or 10% of all major tankers in the world. And their numbers are increasing.

In some cases, the Russian Federation resorts to shell companies from Dubai and Hong Kong. To do this, they buy ships in Europe or use old ships to be scrapped.

According to one of the employees of the trading company, the Russian Federation is stuck in shadow trade and this trend is gaining momentum.

Russian customers in Europe, who are prohibited from extracting oil and petroleum products from Russia, are being replaced by companies from China and India.

Russia splits global oil market in two

“There is a merchant fleet that does not do business with the Russian Federation, but in practice there is one that only works for the Russians,” said Richard Matthew, head of research at brokerage firm EA Gibson. According to him, only a small group of ships work with both. The second largest oil exporter, the Russian Federation, actually split the world oil market into two.

While Europe rejects Russian energy carriers, importers from Asia are increasingly making deals. According to the International Energy Agency, China increased its Russian oil imports to an average of 1.9 billion barrels per day last year, up 19% from the previous year.

Deliveries to India increased 9 times to 900,000 barrels per day. Oil shipments to India and China reached record levels in January.

“Grey” and “black” tankers

To fulfill such orders, tankers are needed, of which there are very few tankers in the Russian Federation.

Matthew Rayon, senior analyst at Kpler, identifies two categories of ships carrying Russian oil: ‘grey’ and ‘black’. After a large-scale Russian invasion, it was sold to companies in the former, Middle East and Asia, predominantly owned by Europeans. And before these companies get involved in this kind of business. The second category includes veterans of the shadow trade – Iran and Venezuela.

According to Wright, there is evidence that he has modified the automatic identification systems that help locate ships.

Oil shipments to India and China are longer and more expensive than, for example, to neighboring Finland. And now, according to EA Gibson’s estimations, Russia must quadruple its oil carrying capacity than it did before the massive invasion of Ukraine.

Recall that Chinese refineries have resumed the purchase of oil from the Russian Federation. Amid anticipated demand, leading Chinese importers PetroChina and Sinopec are looking for ways to increase their profits. Russian oil currently sells for $13 less than Brent oil.

Previously Focus According to Bloomberg’s estimations, Russia reported that the Chinese and Indian markets were not enough to sell all the oil it produced, so the Russian Federation sent its oil to Africa for storage.

Source: Focus

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