Half of US-sanctioned Russian oil tankers have stopped loading, Bloomberg finds

About half of the 50 tankers sanctioned by the US since early October have not loaded cargo since being listed, according to a Bloomberg analysis published by gCaptain on 13 February. Bloomberg found that 18 of the vessels had collected cargoes after designation, 21 had not loaded since and seven were already idle beforehand. All eight ships in the first wave of designations are idle, the report says. The most recent, the Sovcomflot tanker NS Leader, turned around off Portugal when the US named its owner. Eric Van Nostrand, the Treasury's acting Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy, said sanctions were denying Russia energy profits.

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