A tanker loaded with one million barrels of Russian oil is headed for Philadelphia. It did an abrupt U-turn in the middle of the Atlantic.
The buyer of the ship's oil lost it. According to the global maritime data provider MarineTraffic, it removed Philadelphia as its listed destination and listed its new destination as "For Orders." The tanker spent several days bouncing around the Mediterranean in hopes of landing in friendlier territory.
The meandering journey offers a glimpse into the tumult that has roiled the trade in oil, Russia's most lucrative export, as the United States, Canada, Britain and Australia move to ban imports of Russian oil because of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
More than 20 tanker ships have left from Russian ports since the invasion, carrying almost 8 million barrels of oil. Other tanker now list final destinations.
Mr. van Schaik said it was rare to see so many tanker ships sailing under the cense of the U.S. ban on Russian imports combined with self-sanctioning among oil companies. If there is a problem at the refinery, tankers can be turned back or changed destinations.
It isn't always possible to know where the oil will end up, but traders can quietly sell it to refiners that care less about price than about reputation.
At the same time, at least seven tanker ships are still sailing toward the United States to unload their cargo before the U.S. ban on Russian oil takes effect.
The United States only imports a small amount of oil from Russia, but the price of gasoline in America has gone up because of the uncertainty over global supplies. The United States would release up to 180 million barrels of oil from its emergency reserves in order to bring down high American gasoline prices, according to President Biden.
Russia is the third largest oil producer behind the United States and Saudi Arabia. Russian oil and oil-derived products have not shown a decline despite global condemnation of Russia's attack on Ukraine, according to data from Kpler.
India, Singapore, and Turkey have all increased their purchases of Russian oil in the weeks since the invasion, according to a tally by a Ukraine-led effort to investigate the companies and countries that continue to buy and sell Russian oil and gas. The European Union has not been able to agree on an oil embargo due to concerns that it would push the economies in to recession.
The adviser to the Ukrainian president said in an interview that the oil trade means Russia is earning foreign currency to fund its war against Ukraine. Russia's federal budget was made up of almost half of oil and gas revenues.
He said that whoever is buying this oil is financing war crimes.
What happens next is the big question.
The International Energy Agency projected last month that Russian oil exports would fall by April as sanctions take hold. The energy agency said that a global oil supply shock could occur if the shortfall reaches 3 million barrels a day.
Russia is doing better than expected. A port loading schedule obtained by Energy Intelligence shows that major Russian ports plan to export more oil in April than they did in the previous month and the same period last year.
The majority of that demand is expected to come from Asia. In the five weeks since the start of the war in Ukraine, India's purchases of Russian oil have jumped more than 700 percent.
As shipments to Asia have risen, Europe has shown a desire to cut purchases of Russian crude.
He said that it was important to track the drifting oil tanker at sea to figure out the new picture for Russian oil exports. Given the situation in Russia, tracking these flows will be critical, and it wasn't necessarily out of the ordinary to have some tanker with unknown destinations.
The West has shifted away from Russian oil on the heels of growing public pressure.
The oil tanker the Minerva Virgo docked in New York last week, with activists in rubber boats holding up signs that read "Oil Fuels War", was the scene of a protest by the environmental group.
The Vinjerac, a smaller tanker carrying Russian chemicals that was headed for New York, changed its destination to Drifting, a short distance from the shore.
The Birkenhead Docks in northwest England refused to unload a German-flagged tanker. The local union leader told Sky News that workers wouldn't unload any Russian oil. The United Kingdom has banned Russian vessels from British ports, but it doesn't apply to vessels from other countries.
Major oil companies have stopped investing in Russia in the wake of the invasion. Exxon Mobil, Shell, TotalEnergies and other companies said they wouldn't sign new oil contracts with Russia.
Efforts to track the flow of these fossil fuels and expose the companies who have been profiteering through conflict and climate breakdown have shown that they are receptive to public pressure.
The ship that made a U-turn in the Atlantic, the Beijing Spirit, was chartered by a tanker company and was carrying crude from a Russian energy company. There are more than 200 Lukoil franchises in the United States, including in the Philadelphia area.
Tracking data showed the Beijing Spirit docking in Santa Panagia, an oil terminal on the eastern coast of Sicily, Italy. It was not immediately clear if its cargo of oil had been sold or off loaded, but it was no longer signaling for orders. The tanker was loaded before the U.S. ban and was not in violation of sanctions laws. The company did not respond to the request for comment.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
