The shadow fleet of the Russian Federation is increasing its power, despite the sanctions – media

Russia’s oil transportation capacity in older uninsured ships has grown by 70% since 2023. Financial TImes reported this in connection with the KSE report.

It noted that the amount of Russian oil carried by poorly maintained and uninsured tankers increased from 2.4 million barrels per day in June 2023 to 4.1 million in June 2024. The trend comes as allies of the United States , Canada, Japan and Europeans are increasingly targeting global insurers and shipowners in an attempt to curb Russia’s ability to profit from the war in Ukraine.

Companies and individual vessels associated with Russia’s shadow fleet were added to the sanctions list. Many of these ships regularly sail through busy European waters, including the Baltic Sea, the Danish Straits and the Strait of Gibraltar, increasing the risk of environmental disasters for the EU and neighboring countries.

KSE proposes to create shade-free zones in European waters to reduce these risks.

As of June this year, 70% of Russia’s seaborne oil was transported by shadow fleets, which KSE estimated Russia spent $10 billion on collecting. This includes 89% of Russia’s total crude supply, most of which has traded above the $60 per barrel price cap since mid-2023, and 38% of Russian refined product exports.

By assembling this fleet, the Russian Federation has reportedly cut ties with coalition countries that have a price cap that forces global insurance companies to comply with the sanctions regime, reducing the ability of Russia to most domestic insurers. This has raised serious concerns about the quality, reliability and scale of such coverage. The combination of tankers being on average 18 years old and the lack of proper insurance makes these vessels extremely dangerous.

As is known, many accidents have occurred involving shadow ships associated with Russia. In March, the 15-year-old shadow tanker Andromeda Star collided with another ship near Denmark. There was no oil spill because it was on its way to Russia and was unloaded.

In addition, dark fleet vessels used to transport oil from other sanctioned sellers also experienced engine failures, indicating maintenance and explosion problems. In May 2023, a 27-year-old Gabonese-flagged, 700,000-barrel vessel used to transport Iranian oil suffered a severe explosion near Indonesia. At that time it was empty.

Also, several shadow fleet vessels have been involved in oil spills, some of which escaped after causing environmental damage. In 2019, the 23-year-old Ceres I, once involved in trading oil from Iran, collided with another tanker near Singapore, turned off its signal and tried to escape before being caught by the Malaysian coast guard.

We remind you that the media wrote that 800 oil tankers moved to the Russian shadow fleet.