Page 160 - RusRPTJun24

Russia's growing fleet of "shadow" tankers transporting its oil outside the G7's price cap mechanism is being refueled in European waters, according to tanker tracking data, amid fresh calls to further clamp down on rampant evasion of sanctions designed to hit Moscow's oil revenues.
At least 3,100 refueling, or bunkering, operations involving shadow tankers were observed off European member states the UK, and Norway over the 12 months to April 30, according to S&P Global Commodities at Sea data. Waters off Malta and Greece saw the greatest shadow fleet bunkering activity, making up 45% of the total observed activity which averages around nine tankers per day, according to CAS.
Often made up of aging vessels with murky ownership and Russian-backed insurance, the shadow fleet has ballooned to make up more than 10% of the global tanker fleet and accounts for almost 70% of all seaborne Russian crude trade, according to S&P Global data. In April, almost 600 crude and product tankers were either confirmed by Western authorities to have violated sanctions or were at high risk of breaching them, according to a joint study by S&P Global Commodity Insights and S&P Global Market Intelligence.
The practice of refueling tankers carrying Russian oil is not currently prohibited in EU ports or territorial waters as long as the crude or oil products were purchased below the price cap and are en route to a third country. At-sea bunkering activity in international waters adjacent to European territorial waters are not covered by the price cap regime and it is unclear whether the shadow tankers were engaged in illicit oil trade when the bunkering activity was logged.
● Partners
Turkey helped Russia earn €3.1B from the export of petroleum products to the EU. Last year, Turkey became the world's largest buyer of Russian oil products, reported CSD and CREA analysts. In their view, Turkey has become a strategic transshipment point for Russian oil products diverted to the EU, generating hundreds of millions in tax revenue for the Kremlin's war machine. After the embargo on the supply of Russian oil products to the EU was introduced on February 5, 2023, the bloc's countries imported 5.16 million tons worth €3.1B from three Turkish ports. An analysis of EU oil supplies reveals that European companies were able to buy Russian oil products that were mixed in oil storage facilities in Turkish ports or re-exported. Russia and Turkey have taken advantage of a loophole allowing them to buy goods made from Russian oil, provided they have been significantly refined. From the introduction of the embargo until the end of February 2024, Turkey imported €17.6B of Russian oil products, 105% more than in the previous similar period. Its fuel exports to the EU jumped by 107%.
India in April imported more Russian oil but less from Iraq and Saudi Arabia than it did a month earlier, preliminary data from trade flow tracking
160 RUSSIA Country Report June 2024 www.intellinews.com