Dubai is the operating nexus for so-called shadow Russian crude oil shipments, according to a new report from the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), a Helsinki-based research organisation.
Of the shadow tankers – ships skirting sanctions and the oil price cap – transporting Russian crude oil operating currently, 41% are registered in the United Arab Emirates, according to analysis from CREA, while India makes up 12%, and Vietnam, Hong Kong and China make up 8% each.
“There is little evidence that the ‘shadow’ tankers constitute a ‘fleet’ coordinated from the top,” the report notes, adding: “Russian shipping company Sovcomflot controls 30% of the operating ‘shadow’ tankers but the rest are operated by a heterodox group of opportunistic players.”
The report also looks at how much longer tankers are taking to get to their export destination in the 19 months since war with Ukraine began.
In the year preceding the war, the average shipping time for Russian crude oil was 13 days when departing Baltic Sea ports. However, following the start of the invasion, this duration increased significantly to 40 days for shipping Russian crude. Since the imposition of sanctions, the average time required to transport oil from these ports to global destinations has been 38 days, according to CREA data.
The war also extended the time it took to transport cargo from Russian ports in the Black Sea. Before the full-scale invasion, it took an average of 15 days to transport oil departing from Russiaʼs Black sea ports. However, since the invasion, the average transport time for Russian crude oil has been 30 days, and since the sanctions came into force, it has taken 25 days when departing from Black Sea ports.
Over on the Pacific, in Russia’s Far East, the reverse is true with the average duration decreasing from 20 to 14 days. Subsequently, since the commencement of crude oil sanctions until July 2023, the average voyage duration stood at 15 days when departing from Russiaʼs Pacific ports.
CREA has called for new or stricter sanction measures including restrictions on the sales of tankers, to prevent Russia, its allies and related traders from acquiring old tankers used to circumvent the cap as well as floating the idea of blacklisting vessels via their IMO numbers that are owned or managed by sanctioned companies.
“Individuals/organisations involved in violating sanctions must be denied commercial relations in countries that are allies to Ukraine,” CREA suggested, while also urging for a ban of maritime services in perpetuity for vessels used to transport Russian crude without complying with the price cap. The current ban of 90 days prohibiting vessels from attaining EU maritime services following a violation of sanctions was deemed by CREA as “far too weak”.
