The Ghost Fleet: How Russia Plans to Overcome Western Oil Sanctions
According to press reports, while EU sanctions are looming, which prohibit the insurance of tankers carrying Russian oil at prices above those set by the Western price cap, the Kremlin will be able to keep its oil on the market thanks to the help from organizations still willing to do business with Moscow. To do this, this network of transporters has assembled a real "ghost fleet" of tankers ready to transport Moscow's black gold anyway and which are now mainly anchored in Russian Pacific ports.
The tanker owners quoted by Bloomberg say recent data on the sale of ships and large tankers lend credence to the notion that such a fleet is being built up, which will also be needed to keep Russian oil flowing. The prices of the "Old" tankers have also soared, indicating that someone is buying them to include them in this "Ghost Fleet"
EU sanctions will take effect Dec. 5 as the US pledges to cap Russian oil prices. The sanctions will also affect maritime services, most of which are granted by European companies, such as for example insurance and freight services, which until now were guaranteed by companies present on the British market or by Greek companies. Now these services will have to officially cease and here comes the "Ghost Fleet".
These old ships will be used to guarantee the transport of Russian oil mainly in the East and often with transhipment from tanker to tanker, with the identification transponder switched off. In practice, these ships will lend themselves to large-scale oil smuggling, an activity already seen for Iran and Venezuela, and it is no coincidence that a substantial part of this fleet comes from these two countries. There is talk of about seventy ships already collected, more than enough to guarantee the delivery of the abundant Russian oil. Especially in the East, but I'm willing to bet that something will come to us too.
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The article The Ghost Fleet: How Russia Plans to Overcome Western Oil Sanctions comes from Scenari Economics .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/la-flotta-fantasma-come-la-russia-pensa-di-superare-le-sanzioni-occidentali-sul-petrolio/ on Sun, 04 Dec 2022 16:24:38 +0000.