Yuriy Kobzar21:05, 21.12.23

Near the Indian coast, Russian tankers began to get lost in a flock, but they cannot unload.

India has stopped accepting tankers carrying Russian oil after the US launched a campaign to crack down on Putin’s “shadow fleet”. Bloomberg writes about it .

India was supposed to have received about 5 million barrels of Russian Sokol crude over the past four weeks, but all the tankers carrying it are now in neutral waters off the Indian coast — some for more than a month.

“It is not clear what is delaying the vessels, but part of the reason may be US sanctions against tankers carrying Russian oil, which violates the price limit set by the G7 countries,” writes Bloomberg.

It is noted that in mid-October, the US Treasury Department began imposing sanctions against vessels involved in Russian oil trade. Six of the eight vessels that have been sanctioned during this time belong to the Russian state tanker company PJSC Sovkomflot. And one of these tankers – NS Century – was just supposed to deliver oil to the Indian port of Vadinar, but now it has been sitting in the ocean south of Sri Lanka for over a month.

A total of six tankers with Russian oil have been standing near the Indian coast for some time now for an unknown reason.

It is noteworthy that Russia continues to send new tankers to India despite the obvious problem. It is known that on December 19, another Sovcomflot tanker completed loading in the Far East and is now on its way to Vadinar, where it should arrive on January 5.

Oil sanctions against Russia are the latest news

As UNIAN wrote, the “Big Seven” under the leadership of the United States announced changes in its regime of limiting the price of Russian oil. The new rules should make it more difficult for Russians to try to circumvent the price limit, which in particular will further increase costs for any Russian exporters. 

In addition, last week the EU finally approved the 12th package of sanctions against Russia. Among other things, it contained additional mechanisms that should stand in the way of Russian attempts to circumvent previously introduced restrictions, in particular regarding the oil price ceiling.

(C)UNIAN 2023