Sanctioned Russian tankers take far-northern Arctic route to Asia

Close to twenty sanctioned oil tankers are using an unusually far-northern Arctic passage to carry crude from Russia's Arctic terminals towards Asian buyers, gCaptain reports, citing Sentinel-1 satellite imagery and AIS tracking data. The ships are routing north of 81 degrees latitude around the Severnaya Zemlya archipelago instead of through the Vilkitsky Strait. Vessels named include the suezmax Dinasty and the aframaxes Viktor Bakaev, Vostochny Prospect, Liteyny Prospect, Jagger and Ligovsky Prospect; another tanker, Aria, turned back on 31 July. According to the report, Arctic specialists cannot recall a commercial fleet of this size using the passage in a single season.

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