After arriving east of Singapore, the 274-meter tanker “disappeared” from the Automatic Identification System (AIS).
The first Russian oil tanker under US sanctions has secretly transferred oil to another ship off the coast of Singapore, writes Bloomberg.
It was reported that in October last year the tanker SCF Primorye was subjected to US sanctions, after which it did not load oil for almost six months, but at the end of April this year it went to port of Russia’s Black Sea of Novorossiysk and took. a cargo of Urals crude oil from there before traveling 12,000 km to a destination about 113 km from Singapore.
After arriving east of Singapore, the 274-meter tanker “disappeared” from the Automatic Identification System (AIS). It is reported that the ship’s crew can freely turn off the AIS.
Satellite images show the tanker transferred its cargo on June 3 to another ship, the Ocean Hermana, which is about 20 years old and has an unknown insurer. In addition, the Ocean Hermana spent a long time traveling between areas around Singapore and the Strait of Malacca and ports in China.
The publication notes that if the cargo is delivered to an oil refinery – most likely in China, given the location of the transport – it will be clear how easily Russia can repeat the process with its other ships under sanctions.
It was reported that since October of last year, almost all 40 OFAC-sanctioned tankers have failed to load cargoes and only one has been removed from the sanctions list.
It was previously reported that disagreements remain among EU countries over measures aimed at the so-called Russian shadow fleet, that is, against semi-legal oil tankers. Greece, Cyprus and Malta have opposed such measures, arguing that such action would only lead to shipping operators taking more opaque measures.
Source: korrespondent
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