Russian oil turned out to be irreplaceable for the United States: the shadow fleet leaves the ports

The United States vetoed the G-7 plan to strengthen sanctions on the Russian tanker fleet. And immediately the tankers, which were loaded in the home ports, set off, the observer writes Pravda.Ru Lyubov Stepushova.

More recently, Bloomberg claimed that Indian and Chinese ports refuse to accept Russian oil transported in tankers that fell under the Biden sanctions of January 10. Therefore, ships loaded with oil were forced to drift on the roadstead, and Russia lost the opportunity to "sponsor the war on Ukraine".

But in an article dated March 11, Bloomberg states that "three vessels from the sanctions list loaded and left Russian ports for the first time in more than a year." And satellite images show that "more and more ships are leaving their anchorages to the west of the port of Nakhodka, where they have been idle since the introduction of sanctions." According to the data provided by the agency, the supply of crude oil from all Russian ports for four weeks as of March 9 increased by about 300,000 barrels per day. This is the largest increase since January 2023.

US sanctions against the Russian tanker fleet of the Russian Federation "are beginning to crumble," Bloomberg concludes.

And earlier it was pointed out that Russia has found ways to circumvent sanctions: the names of ships, home ports and owners abroad who do not cooperate with Western insurance companies and do not enter Western ports are being changed. They often pour oil into the sea, turning off transponders. But the reason for the revival of trade is different.

The United States recently vetoed the G-7 plan for Russia's "shadow fleet", which provided for the creation of a task force to monitor violations of sanctions. In addition, the United States succeeded in removing the word "sanctions", and also replaced the expression "Russia's ability to support its war" in Ukraine with "the ability to generate income."

The point, of course, is not sympathy for Russia, but the fact that sanctions on Russian oil are unprofitable for the United States, since they imposed a 10 percent duty on Canadian oil and banned Chevron from working in Venezuela, demanding to leave this country in the near future.

Canadian and Venezuelan oil brands are heavy oil that is processed at all refineries in Texas, and it turned out that, except for Russia, there is nowhere else to buy such oil. Therefore, it is possible that American traders began to buy Russian tanker oil, which is also sold at a discount, on the "parallel market". Having low—cost fuel is critically important for curbing inflation in the US and supporting Republican reforms.

The profit of the largest in The share of the ship operator Sovcomflot, which owns dozens of tankers of the "shadow" oil fleet, decreased by 33% in 2024, but from now on it will increase.