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Two thirds of oil tankers known to have insurance but that still leaves a third fo the global fleet operating in the shadows. / bne IntelliNews
Most of Russia’s shadow fleet operates outside western insurance system
Kyiv School of Economics
KSE Institute has released a new report, “Oil Spill Insurance and the Shadow Fleet,” examining P&I insurance coverage across the global tanker fleet, with a particular focus on the ships that deal with Russian oil.
The report identifies around 14,000 active tankers that form the global fleet and compiles a list of 141 P&I insurance providers recognized by flag states. A review of 42 publicly available databases establishes the insurance status of these vessels. The analysis highlights key differences across the global fleet, including ships transporting Russian oil or operating as part of the shadow fleet.
The global tanker fleet consists of around 14,000 vessels, including 3,000 crude oil tankers and 11,000 product and chemical tankers. Most vessels are small, mainly those transporting oil products and chemicals. Crude oil tankers are much larger, typically Aframax-size or bigger, with an average deadweight of 170,000 tonnes – ten times that of the average product tanker. Flags of convenience, which allow vessels to register with no real ownership ties to the country, play a key role in global tanker operations.
Insurance data is available for only 63.5% of the global fleet, leaving 36.5% uninsured or lacking public records. Among
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the 8,935 tankers with known insurance, 91% are covered by the International Group of P&I Clubs (IG). Non-IG providers from oil price cap coalition countries cover 545 ships,
while non-coalition providers insure 711 vessels. However, insurance data is missing for 5,134 vessels.
Among the 6,444 tankers that carried oil in 2024, 84% have IG P&I insurance, while coverage is unknown for 12.3%. This group has a high IG coverage rate as it includes fewer small tankers, which are harder to track – only 10.6% have a deadweight below 10,000 tonnes. Smaller tankers have
a much lower IG insurance rate, with just 29.1% covered compared to 82.7% of vessels over 10,000 tonnes.
Tankers carrying Russian oil are significantly less likely to have IG P&I insurance. In 2024, only 29.4% of tankers transporting Russian crude oil and 56.2% of tankers carrying Russian oil products had IG coverage. This contrasts sharply with vessels carrying only non-Russian cargo, over 90% of which are IG-insured. A higher volume of Russian crude is linked to lower insurance rates, reflecting efforts to bypass the oil price cap.
Shadow fleet vessels operate with minimal transparency. Among 4,539 tankers with no ties to oil price cap coalition countries, P&I insurance providers are known for only 6.3%.