Look-alike Sovcomflot tankers obscure Russian crude transfer to Oxis, Bloomberg says

The supertanker Oxis took on about one million barrels of Russian Urals crude in mid-July from one of two near-identical Sovcomflot tankers, Bratsk or Belgorod, Bloomberg reports. The transfer took place roughly 100 miles south-east of Iran's Jask terminal in the Gulf of Oman. TankerTrackers.com told Bloomberg the two vessels are essentially indistinguishable from above. According to the report, Oxis broadcast a false position near the Strait of Hormuz, while both Sovcomflot tankers vanished from tracking in mid-June after passing through the Bosphorus. Bloomberg says repeated transfers raise delivery costs, with the cargo likely bound for China or India.

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