Three Russian oil tankers stuck off China's coast after US sanctions - Bloomberg
Kyiv • UNN
Tankers carrying 2 million barrels of Russian oil changed course and stopped off the coast of China after US sanctions. Shandong Port Group banned the sanctioned tankers from entering ports.
Three tankers carrying more than 2 million barrels of Russian oil are sailing in the waters off China's east coast after being sanctioned by the United States on Friday, according to ship tracking data, Bloomberg reports UNN.
Details
According to data intelligence company Kpler, the Huihai Pacific was due to arrive in Dongjiakou in Shandong province on January 15 after loading nearly 770,000 barrels of ESPO crude oil from Russia's Pacific port of Kozmino earlier in the month. However, it changed course over the weekend and is now offshore, loaded with oil.
Oil ships carrying Russian oil are currently idle off the east coast of China after being sanctioned.
The vessel, like many others, has been hit by the most aggressive package of measures targeting Russian oil exports since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in early 2022. Several tankers and at least one trader who trades in ESPO crude, a grade favored by Chinese independent refiners, have been sanctioned.
The Mermar left Kozmino on January 5 with more than 755,000 barrels of ESPO and was due to call at Yantai port this week, but is now waiting ashore, Kpler data show. The Olia left the Russian port on January 7 with almost 709,000 barrels of this oil and was also headed for Yantai, but is now in the Yellow Sea.
Addendum
Washington's action comes just days after Shandong Port Group Co. which operates several ports in the province called on terminals to stop allowing sanctioned oil tankers to enter the port or unload cargo.
