Oil shippers are hiding Russian cargoes by paying in Chinese yuan, exchanging weapons for crude, and 'going dark'

As Europe and the US try to stem imports of crude from Russia, oil companies are using a number of tactics to hide their origin.

Concerns are growing that India may be used as a back door for Russian oil to enter Europe, according to the Guardian.

Sources told the newspaper that one way to mask the origin of Russian oil is to pay in the Chinese currency, the renminbi. If you want to exchange Russian oil for gold, food or weapons, you can.

Since the beginning of Russia's war with Ukraine, trading volumes in the renminbi have increased 1,067%, which is seen as a sign of the allies' improving ties to the US.

It is possible to make ship-to-ship transfers of Russian oil on the high seas. As buyers try to keep quiet any affiliation to sanctions-hit Moscow, that is becoming more and more common.

Shippers turn off the tanker's ID system to make it hard to monitor its movements in order to achieve this.

If a country or oil operator wants to hide the source of crude or oil products, it can very easily do so, according to an oil market analyst.

Western allies' attempts to hamper Moscow's efforts to fund its war in Ukraine are undermined by the practice of trading Russian oil. The EU agreed to ban Russian oil imports by the end of the year while the US and UK imposed their own sanctions.

Since the war began, Greece, Cyprus, and Malta have doubled the quantity of Russian oil they ship, and Russian oil products are likely to end up in the US.

Concerns are mounting that the same is happening in Europe, with India being used as a back door

According to the Wall Street Journal, India's finance minister said that the government is acting in the interest of the country's economy.

According to the WSJ, India bought 1 million barrels of Russian oil a day in June, compared with 30,000 in February. Analysts say that those supplies will end up in Europe's gas stations after being refined there.

"Indian refiners are taking significant volumes of discounted Russian crude and then re-exporting a material proportion of refined product back out of the country," Craig Howie told the Guardian.

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