“Oil tanker freight rates jumped sharply after the US imposed sanctions on Russian oil trade, which could reduce the number of tankers available and force traders to look for alternative sources of oil.”, — write: epravda.com.ua
Oil tanker freight rates jumped sharply after the US imposed sanctions on Russian oil trade, which could reduce the number of tankers available and force traders to look for alternative sources of oil. This is reported by the Bloomberg agency. On Friday, the US imposed sanctions against approximately 160 Russian oil tankers. That covers about 10% of the oil-carrying fleet and has already sent tanker base rates up 39%, the biggest jump since August. Shares of major shipowners also rose sharply.Advertisement: This is just one example of how the sanctions — the most aggressive by a Western power since the start of the war in Ukraine — threaten to disrupt Russia’s oil supply chain. Most of the tankers that had already come under US sanctions in previous rounds did not load cargo after the restrictions were imposed. The scale of the new measures caused Brent oil futures to rise by more than $4 a barrel. Even before Friday’s sanctions, Indian and Chinese refiners were actively seeking oil supplies from the Middle East due to fears of losing supplies from Russia and Iran.Advertisement: On Monday, a senior Indian official said the country intends to abandon the use of tankers that have come under fire. US sanctions, which may further limit the available fleet. The massive blacklisting of tankers added to previous measures targeting vessels carrying Iranian oil, putting additional pressure on vessel availability and effectively reducing the supply of the tanker fleet. We will remind: the Office of the Control of Foreign Assets of the US Treasury Department introduced sanctions against the two largest oil companies of the Russian Federation, Gazprom Neft and Surgutneftegaz, as well as ship insurance providers Ingosstrakh and Alfastrahovanie. According to the Financial Times, the measures include blacklisting 183 “shadow fleet” vessels involved in the export of energy resources from Russia. India is set to ditch oil tankers that have been sanctioned by the US for their role in transporting cargo for Russia, another example of the impact of Washington’s measures on the global oil market. Three tankers with more than 2 million barrels of Russian oil are floating in the waters off eastern China and cannot be shipped after the US imposed new sanctions on Russia’s largest oil companies on Friday, January 10.