As Reuters reports, at least 65 oil tankers have anchored in various locations, including off the coasts of China and Russia, since the United States announced a new package of sanctions on January 10, according to vessel tracking data from MarineTraffic and LSEG. Five of these tankers stopped at Chinese ports, another seven anchored off Singapore, and the rest stopped off the coasts of Russia in the Baltic Sea and the Far East.
Meanwhile, some ports took measures even before the latest measures were introduced, further exacerbating the situation. The Shandong port group banned tankers under US sanctions from entering their ports, traders reported last week.
Analysts estimate that about 10% of the global tanker fleet has been affected by US sanctions.
As a result, Russian oil companies may lose 27.5% of maritime oil exports, which, according to Bloomberg, amounted to 2.9 million barrels per day as of early January.
On January 10, the US Treasury imposed sanctions against Russian oil companies "Gazprom Neft" and "Surgutneftegaz", as well as against 183 vessels transporting Russian oil, as the sanctions target the revenues Moscow used to finance the war with Ukraine. Another 25 oil tankers were blocked by previous sanction packages.
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