Ukraine: Russia assembles a ‘shadow fleet’ of 100 oil tankers; reaps US$1 billion of wheat from Ukraine
- Shipping brokers and analysts estimate Moscow quietly amassed more tankers this year
- About 6 million tons of wheat was collected from areas controlled by Russia, Nasa says
Russia has assembled a “shadow fleet” of more than 100 oil tankers in a bid to bust Western sanctions imposed following Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, the Financial Times has reported.
Shipping brokers and analysts said they estimated Moscow has quietly amassed more tankers this year.
“We’ve seen quite a number of sales to unnamed buyers in recent months, and a few weeks after the sale many of these tankers pop up in Russia to take their first load of crude,” Craig Kennedy, a Russian oil expert at Harvard’s Davis Centre who has been tracking the ships, said.
Rystad, an energy consultancy company, said Russia amassed another 103 tankers to add to its fleet this year through purchases and the reallocation of ships servicing Iran and Venezuela.
Russia assembled what the industry described as the “shadow fleet” in a bid to counter new sanctions.
The EU imposed a ban on Russia’s seaborne exports of oil which takes effect on Monday, and reached a deal to cap Russian crude at U$S60 a barrel after Poland tried to save it at just US$30. The cap aims to let India and China buy the oil but stop Moscow from making big profits on it.