Russia's shadow fleet and sanctioned oil trade

South Korean ports supplied more than 176,000 tonnes of fuel, mostly diesel, to Russian tankers in July and August 2026, according to a Guardian investigation reported by the Kyiv Independent.…

A large tanker caught fire off the Russian resort city of Sochi on 6 October, the Maritime Executive reports, citing local media accounts and satellite sensing data. Initial reports suggest the…

Japan's government announced further sanctions on Russia on Friday 3 October, including curbs on services to 35 vessels it says belong to the shadow fleet carrying sanctioned Russian oil, Kyodo…

The UK announced 31 new sanctions on 1 October, covering 23 individuals and entities and eight ships. According to the government, the vessels comprise three shadow fleet ships, two that supply…

EU ambassadors approved a revised mandate for Operation EUNAVFOR MED IRINI on 30 September, European Pravda reports, citing Euronews. The mission was set up in 2020 to enforce the UN arms…

A study by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), published on 25 September, finds that 107 vessels joined Russia's ship register between January 2025 and June 2026, a 36 per…

By mid-September, 50 shadow fleet oil tankers and 18 LNG carriers had sailed the Northern Sea Route, against 38 and 13 for the whole of 2025, according to Bellona's shipping monitoring. Six of…

Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces have struck 300 Russian shadow fleet tankers since their campaign began on 6 July, commander Robert Brovdi said, according to the Kyiv Post. He put the tally at…

A commentary from the EU Institute for Security Studies argues that European pressure has changed the fleet in two ways. Russia is registering the vessels under its own flag, and it is arming…

Sanctioned shadow tankers carried 52% of Russia's seaborne oil in August, according to CREA's monthly analysis published on 10 September. For crude alone, their share was 61%, against 34% for…

Satellite analytics firm SynMax detected two ship-to-ship transfers of Russian oil in the Sea of Japan on 7 September, gCaptain reported. According to the report, the tanker Jagger, which loaded…

Personnel from the Italian patrol ship ITS Thaon di Revel boarded MV Sun on 30 August to verify the tanker's flag, USNI News reports. It was the sixth suspected shadow fleet vessel boarded by EU…

Russia has almost doubled the number of LNG carriers serving its sanctioned Arctic LNG 2 project, from 11 in December to at least 20 by early September, according to a Bloomberg report published…

European states carried out 18 interventions or attempted interventions against oil tankers between December 2024 and August 2026, led mainly by France and Sweden, according to a bulletin by the…

Oil leaking from the grounded tanker Caroline Bezengi has spread over more than 2,000 square kilometres and reached the Omani coastline, MarineLink reported on 12 August. The 25-year-old…

Vladimir Putin warned on 12 August that Russia would retaliate against European interceptions of Russian oil cargoes, Euronews reports. Speaking while observing naval exercises aboard the…

The US government has sold two Russian-flagged tankers it seized in January to Dubai-based ship recycler Global Marketing Systems for demolition in India, MarineLink reports, citing Reuters and…

Royal Navy warships and helicopters spent 21 days in July monitoring Russian activity in UK waters and the North Atlantic, a 25% rise on a year earlier, the UK government said. It said the…

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…

In his first major sanctions package, Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband announced 19 designations on 6 August, including six newly acquired shadow fleet tankers the UK says are dodging Western…

Sweden's Supreme Court on 4 August dismissed an appeal by Caffa Shipping Ltd, allowing the seized cargo ship Caffa to be handed over to Ukraine, according to court documents reported by…

An Italian Navy team operating under the EU's Operation IRINI boarded the tanker Toa Payoh on 2 August in international waters west of Pantelleria, Naval News reports. The vessel, which declared…

The tanker Caroline Bezengi, which is under EU and UK sanctions over alleged involvement in carrying Russian fuel, appears to be leaking crude off Oman, MarineLink reported, citing Reuters. The…

The Council of the EU adopted its 21st sanctions package against Russia, adding 41 vessels to the list of ships barred from EU ports and services and bringing the total to 673. The listing…

The EU's counter-piracy mission Operation Atalanta has been authorised to carry out flag-verification boardings of ships suspected of belonging to Russia's shadow fleet, EU foreign policy chief…

Forces from the EU's Operation Irini boarded the Cameroon-flagged tanker South Star in international waters in the Mediterranean for a flag verification check, according to the Moscow Times. EU…

Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces commander Robert Brovdi said his units struck 159 Russian shadow fleet vessels between 6 and 17 July, 117 in the Sea of Azov and 42 in the Black Sea, the Kyiv…

The US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control designated more than 50 individuals, entities and vessels linked to the shipping network of Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani. Treasury says the…

Russia temporarily suspended navigation through the Don-Azov Canal after overnight Ukrainian drone strikes on vessels in the Sea of Azov, the Kyiv Independent reported, citing Reuters. Ukrainian…

Ukraine's drone forces said they attacked twelve tankers belonging to Russia's shadow fleet over two days as the vessels supplied fuel to Crimea, MarineLink reported, citing Reuters. Eight…

European countries are intensifying enforcement against tankers carrying Russian oil under fraudulent Cameroonian registrations, including boardings at sea, according to Reuters reporting…

Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Kuleba has sent a letter to the International Maritime Organization setting out Kyiv's view that Russian oil and gas tankers funding Moscow's war could be…

French naval forces stopped and boarded the tanker Deliver off Sicily, with help from the Royal Navy and the EU's IRINI operation, Maritime Executive reported. The French military said the ship…

Ukraine's General Staff said on 17 June that its forces had struck the tanker Fina A in the Black Sea overnight, according to the Kyiv Independent. Kyiv Post reported that the vessel was hit in…

The UK announced 70 new Russia-related sanctions on 16 June, including more than 20 oil tankers, ship insurers and other shipping service providers, the government said, taking the number of…

The UK National Crime Agency charged Ajay Pant, an Indian national and captain of the tanker Smyrtos, with contravening sanctions, MarineLink reported on 15 June. The charge alleges he directly…

The Council of the EU on 15 June adopted sanctions on two individuals and 24 entities it says are involved in shipping and exporting Russian crude and oil products, including via the shadow…

Russian senator Dmitry Rogozin suggested fitting shadow fleet tankers with explosive charges that could be detonated if the ships were seized, Splash247 reports, arguing that a few explosions…

Royal Marine Commandos and National Crime Agency officers boarded the sanctioned tanker Smyrtos in the English Channel on 14 June, in what the UK government called its first interdiction of a…

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas presented a proposed 21st package of sanctions against Russia on 9 June, gCaptain reported. The plan…

French forces boarded and detained the oil tanker Tagor in international waters roughly 400 nautical miles west of Brittany, President Emmanuel Macron announced on 1 June, saying the operation…

Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces said they struck a shadow fleet oil tanker at Taganrog in Russia's Rostov region during an overnight operation on 30 May, Kyiv Post reports. Commander Robert…

The oil tanker Elbus (IMO 9290385) sailed some 200 nautical miles off the Norwegian coast while heading for Murmansk, staying outside the zone where the Barents Ship Reporting System applies,…

The Swedish Coast Guard and police boarded the tanker Jin Hui in Swedish territorial waters south of Trelleborg on suspicion that it was unseaworthy, MarineLink reports. The coast guard said…

Ukrainian drones struck Russian oil export infrastructure, including the Baltic port of Primorsk, and several tankers, CBS News reports. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said one tanker belonging…

Ukraine's General Staff said its navy struck the tanker Marquise with two kamikaze drones about 210 kilometres south-east of the Russian port of Tuapse, the Kyiv Independent reported. According…

The tanker Anatoly Kolodkin crossed the Norwegian-Russian maritime boundary on 27 April and headed for Kola Bay to load crude at floating storage units, The Barents Observer reported. The…

The EU adopted its 20th sanctions package against Russia, adding 46 vessels to the list of ships barred from EU ports and services and removing 11, the European Commission said. That brings the…

The US Treasury sanctioned more than two dozen individuals, companies and vessels in the network of Iranian oil shipping magnate Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani, son of the late security official Ali…

Between 30 and 40 tankers described as part of Russia's shadow fleet are waiting in the Gulf of Finland after Ukrainian drone strikes damaged oil terminals at Ust-Luga and Primorsk, The Moscow…

Estonia's navy commander Ivo Vark said the country will not detain Russian shadow fleet vessels in the Baltic because the risk of military escalation is too high, Baird Maritime reports, citing…

The Russian Black Sea Fleet frigate Admiral Grigorovich escorted two tankers on the UK sanctions list, Universal and Enigma, through the English Channel, The Insider reported, citing tracking by…

Sweden's coastguard boarded the tanker Flora 1 on Friday on suspicion of an environmental crime, after a 12-kilometre oil slick was detected east of Gotland the previous day, Euronews reported.…

A French court sentenced Chen Zhangjie, the 39-year-old Chinese captain of the tanker Boracay (IMO 9332810), to a year in prison and a fine of about $170,000 for failing to comply with orders…

The Sierra Leone-flagged tanker Altura, carrying 140,000 tonnes of crude from Novorossiysk, was hit by a drone in the Black Sea, the Kyiv Independent reported, citing Turkish broadcaster NTV.…

The UK government said armed forces and law enforcement officers will be able to board and detain Russian shadow fleet vessels passing through British waters, with owners, operators and crew…

The French navy, supported by Britain, boarded the Mozambique-flagged tanker Deyna in the western Mediterranean and escorted it to an anchorage for inspection, gCaptain reported. The ship had…

Swedish police boarded the 228-metre tanker Sea Owl I off Trelleborg on Sweden's southern coast, The Moscow Times reported. The coast guard said it suspected the ship, which flies the Comoros…

The US Treasury issued a 30-day authorisation, expiring on 11 April, allowing the sale, delivery and offloading of Russian crude and oil products loaded on or before 12 March, Lloyd's List…

UK Defence Secretary John Healey and Attorney General Richard Hermer convened legal representatives from Joint Expeditionary Force nations to examine the legal framework for military action…

The Russian LNG carrier Arctic Metagaz was hit by explosions and fire in the Mediterranean between Libya and Malta, north of the Libyan port of Sirte, Al Jazeera reported. Libya's port authority…

Belgian special forces seized the product tanker Ethera in Belgium's exclusive economic zone in the North Sea, with direct support from the French navy, Lloyd's List reported. According to the…

Cameroon's government has promised to deregister all shadow fleet tankers after representations from Brussels, Hellenic Shipping News reports. Citing Windward data, the report says more than 120…

The UK has announced nearly 300 new sanctions against Russia on the fourth anniversary of the full-scale invasion, describing it as its biggest package. The measures cover 175 companies in the…

Hungary has vetoed the EU's 20th sanctions package against Russia, preventing the unanimous approval needed before the fourth anniversary of the full-scale invasion, the Kyiv Independent…

France has released the tanker Grinch after its owner paid a fine of several million euros, Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot announced. The vessel, which had sailed from Murmansk, was…

US military forces have boarded the tanker Veronica III in the Indian Ocean by helicopter, Al Jazeera reports, after the Pentagon said the vessel had tried to evade President Trump's blockade on…

The Danish Maritime Authority says EU-sanctioned tankers made 292 voyages through Danish waters in 2025, roughly one a day, Euronews reports. The authority said it was closely monitoring ships…

Nearly 70 dark fleet tankers have moved to Russia's flag since May 2025, 40 of them after the US, UK and France began boarding vessels with fraudulent registrations in December, according to…

US forces have boarded the tanker Aquila II in the Indian Ocean in an overnight operation coordinated by US Indo-Pacific Command, following a pursuit that gCaptain says began in the Caribbean…

The European Commission has proposed a 20th sanctions package against Russia that would replace price-cap rules with a blanket ban on EU companies providing maritime services, such as insurance…

Fourteen European countries, including Germany, France, the UK, Poland, the Netherlands, Belgium and the Nordic and Baltic states, warned on 27 January that vessels using multiple flags in the…

Avtandil Kalandadze, the Georgian captain of the Russian-flagged tanker Marinera, formerly Bella 1, and its first officer were transferred to the US Coast Guard cutter Munro after the ship was…

French naval forces, supported by British forces, boarded the tanker Grinch in the western Mediterranean on 22 January using helicopters and naval vessels, The Barents Observer reported. The…

European states should move from sanctions to actively interdicting Russia's shadow fleet, Justina Budginaite-Froehly, a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council's Europe Center, argued…

The Mozambique-flagged tanker Chariot Tide, which the EU and UK sanctioned in November 2024 under its former name Marabella Sun, lost propulsion on 22 January about 33 miles south of Adra in…

Russia's Maritime Board, chaired by security official Nikolai Patrushev, said on 21 January it had drawn up measures to protect Russian shipping interests, The Barents Observer reported.…

The US Coast Guard boarded the sanctioned tanker Veronica in the Caribbean, the sixth such seizure in the effort to control Venezuela's oil trade and the fourth since Nicolás Maduro was removed,…

British ministers believe the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018 could allow military force to be used against oil tankers sailing without a valid national flag, the Kyiv Independent…

German federal police refused the tanker Tavian entry to territorial waters off Schleswig-Holstein on 10 January, gCaptain reported, after finding forged papers and a fabricated IMO number.…

The Palau-flagged Suezmax tanker Elbus was damaged on 8 January when it was attacked by what Splash247 described as an unmanned marine vehicle and drone around 30 miles off the Turkish coast.…

US European Command said it seized the tanker it called Bella 1 in the North Atlantic for breaching sanctions on Venezuelan oil. Weeks earlier the US had tried to board the ship while it sailed…

The Oman-flagged tanker Qendil ran aground off the Turkish island of Bozcaada on 4 January while sailing empty from Aliaga to Yalova, gCaptain reported. Turkish authorities sent the tugs…

Finnish authorities detained the St Vincent and Grenadines-flagged cargo ship Fitburg on suspicion that its anchor damaged a telecommunications cable between Helsinki and Tallinn, Euronews…

The crew of the US-sanctioned tanker Bella 1 painted a Russian flag on its hull and claimed the ship was now under Russian authority while being trailed by the US Coast Guard, Euronews reports.…

Sanctioned vessels made up nearly a third of ships on Russia's Northern Sea Route in 2025, with 100 identified against 13 in 2024, according to a Bellona report described by gCaptain. They…

Ukrainian aerial drones struck the Oman-flagged tanker Qendil in the eastern Mediterranean off Crete, more than 2,000 kilometres from Ukraine, Euronews reports. An SBU source said the empty…

The suezmax tanker Dashan (IMO 9299666), formerly Mianzimu, was hit near the engine room by at least two drone boats in the Black Sea while sailing empty towards Novorossiysk, The Maritime…

The Russian-flagged tanker Midvolga-2, carrying sunflower oil, reported a drone attack about 80 miles off Turkey's Black Sea coast on 2 December, gCaptain reports, citing Turkish authorities.…

Ukraine's SBU security service and navy said they used a new version of the Sea Baby naval drone to attack the tankers Kairos and Virat in the Black Sea off Turkey, The Maritime Executive…

The Panama-flagged tanker Mersin was hit by four external explosions while at anchor off Dakar, Senegal, on 27 November, flooding its engine room, Euronews reports. The crew were safe and no one…

Danish investigative outlet Danwatch has documented accounts of uniformed Russian men aboard shadow fleet tankers passing through the Danish straits, The Maritime Executive reports. A licensed…

The EU's 19th sanctions package, adopted on 23 October, lists 117 more vessels, taking the number of sanctioned ships to 557, and widens the criteria for listing shadow fleet ships, Latvia's…

The US Treasury designated Rosneft and Lukoil, Russia's two largest oil companies, saying Moscow had shown no serious commitment to a peace process in Ukraine. Secretary Scott Bessent said it…

The UK sanctioned Russia's two largest oil companies, Rosneft and Lukoil, which together export 3.1 million barrels a day, in what it called its strongest sanctions yet. The 90 designations also…

The Helsinki District Court ruled that it lacks jurisdiction to try the captain and two officers of the tanker Eagle S and dismissed the charges over damage to Baltic Sea cables, public…

French military personnel boarded the tanker Boracay, anchored off Saint-Nazaire, after it sailed from Primorsk on 20 September, gCaptain reports. The ship is under UK and EU sanctions and had…

The UK announced 100 sanctions as Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper travelled to Kyiv, including 70 more ships in the fleet carrying Russian oil exports, along with suppliers of military…

Finland's deputy prosecutor general charged the Georgian captain and two Indian officers of the tanker Eagle S with aggravated criminal mischief and aggravated interference with communications,…

Panama's ship registry will reject new registrations of oil tankers and bulk carriers older than 15 years, gCaptain reports, citing the Panama Maritime Authority. The authority says the aim is…

The US Treasury designated more than 50 individuals and entities and identified more than 50 vessels belonging to the shipping network of Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani, son of a senior adviser to…

The UK sanctioned 135 oil tankers it says have carried $24 billion of cargo since the start of 2024, as it and the EU lowered the crude oil price cap. Also listed was Intershipping Services,…

The EU's 18th sanctions package adds 105 vessels to its list of banned ships, taking the total to 444, and lowers the price cap on Russian crude from $60 to $47.6 a barrel with reviews every six…

Two explosions about ten minutes apart struck the engine room of the Marshall Islands-flagged gas carrier Eco Wizard as it loaded ammonia at the EuroChem terminal in Ust-Luga on 6 July, Marine…

TMS Tankers says preliminary findings show the tanker Vilamoura was damaged by an unidentified explosive device off Libya, Riviera Maritime Media reports. The blast flooded the engine room and…

Foreign ministers and officials of 14 countries around the Baltic and North Seas, including the Nordic and Baltic states, Germany, France, Poland and the UK, issued a joint statement on Russia's…

The UK sanctioned 20 more shadow fleet oil tankers as G7 leaders met, and listed Orion Star Group and Valegro, which it says crew and manage shadow fleet vessels. Two UK residents accused of…

The Antigua and Barbuda-flagged tanker Adalynn and the Frontline-operated Front Eagle collided about 15 nautical miles off Fujairah in the UAE early on 17 June, and both ships caught fire,…

Sweden will require insurance documents from vessels passing through its territorial waters and economic zone from 1 July 2025, even if they do not call at Swedish ports, The Maritime Executive…

The Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team, set up by 11 countries including the US, UK, Japan and South Korea after a UN panel was disbanded, published its first report on North Korean-Russian…

Russia has started using military escorts for shadow fleet tankers in the Gulf of Finland, Finnish Defence Minister Antti Häkkänen said, according to gCaptain. The outlet describes it as a…

The UK sanctioned 18 more shadow fleet ships on 20 May, together with enablers including John Michael Ormerod, a British national it says procured vessels for Russia's shadow fleet, and two…

A tanker recently added to the list of shadow fleet ships made suspicious manoeuvres near the power cable linking Poland and Sweden on 20 May, outside Polish territorial waters, the Polish…

The EU adopted its 17th sanctions package against Russia, adding 189 vessels to its list of ships banned from EU ports and services and bringing the total to 342, Ship & Bunker reports. The…

Russia detained the Liberia-flagged, Greek-owned tanker Green Admire as it left the Estonian port of Sillamäe on an agreed route through Russian waters, Estonia's Foreign Ministry said on 18…

Estonia's navy tried to inspect the tanker Jaguar in its economic zone on 13 May, but the ship ignored an order to anchor and was escorted out of Estonian waters, ERR News reports. That evening…

Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced sanctions on up to 100 oil tankers at a Joint Expeditionary Force meeting in Oslo, in what the UK called its largest package against Russia's shadow fleet.…

The US Treasury sanctioned three vessels and their owners for discharging fuel at the Houthi-controlled Yemeni port of Ras Isa after a US general licence permitting such deliveries expired on 4…

The European Commission amended the Vessel Monitoring Directive to require all ships operating in EU waters, including those only passing through, to provide insurance information, The Maritime…

Estonian authorities detained the oil tanker Kiwala in Muuga Bay on 11 April after an inspection found 40 deficiencies, 29 of them serious, the Estonian Transport Administration said. The ship…

Panama's ship registry has removed 107 vessels and is de-registering 18 more after finding them on US, EU or UK sanctions lists or raising compliance concerns, Seatrade Maritime News reports.…

German authorities have issued a confiscation order making the tanker Eventin and its roughly 100,000 tonnes of crude oil German property, Baird Maritime reports, citing Reuters and Der Spiegel.…

G7 foreign ministers adopted a declaration on maritime security on 14 March that invites the Nordic-Baltic Eight to join a Shadow Fleet Task Force to improve monitoring and constrain shadow…

The EU adopted its 16th sanctions package against Russia on 24 February, adding 74 vessels to its list of ships barred from EU ports and services and bringing the total to 153, the European…

The UK announced 107 new sanctions on 24 February, the third anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion, in what it called its largest package since the early days of the war. They include 40…

Prosecutors in Genoa have opened an investigation into suspected shipwreck with terrorist intent after two explosions damaged the Greek-operated tanker Seajewel below the waterline off…

Three explosions hit the engine room of the 160,000-dwt tanker Koala as it prepared to leave Russia's Baltic port of Ust-Luga on 9 February, The Maritime Executive reports. The engine room…

The Danish Maritime Authority is tightening checks on tankers that anchor at Skagen in the Danish straits, The Maritime Executive reports. It will inspect ships that cannot be considered to be…

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte announced Operation Baltic Sentry at a summit of Baltic Sea allies in Helsinki on 15 January, USNI News reports. The mission adds frigates, maritime patrol…

The Panama-flagged tanker Eventin, carrying about 99,000 tonnes of oil, lost manoeuvrability north of the German island of Rügen on 10 January and drifted for several hours before the emergency…

The US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control designated 183 vessels in one of its largest actions against Russia's oil trade, Seatrade Maritime News reports. They include 69 ships owned by…

China's state-owned Shandong Port Group has told traders it will block vessels on the US Treasury's sanctions list from its ports, The Maritime Executive reports, citing a policy notice. The…

The ten-nation Joint Expeditionary Force has activated Nordic Warden, a UK-led system that uses AI to assess AIS and other data and flag risks from ships entering sensitive sea areas, the UK…

The UAE-based owner of the Eagle S, Caravella LLC FZ, has asked Helsinki District Court to cancel the seizure of the tanker, which Finnish police and coast guard detained on suspicion of…

NATO will strengthen its military presence in the Baltic Sea after the damage to the Estlink 2 power cable and four internet cables, Secretary General Mark Rutte said, according to Reuters.…

Finnish authorities have seized the Cook Islands-flagged tanker Eagle S after the Estlink 2 power cable between Finland and Estonia was damaged on Christmas Day, USNI News reports. Police and…

The LNG carrier Pioneer, which loaded the first cargo from Russia's Arctic LNG 2 project in early August, docked on 25 December at the Koryak floating storage unit in Kamchatka after a…

Denmark's Defence Intelligence Service has warned that Russia's navy may start escorting shadow fleet tankers through the Danish straits, Bloomberg reports. "If this happens, it will increase…

The UK sanctioned 20 more tankers on 17 December, European Pravda reports, bringing the number of vessels it has sanctioned to more than 100, including 93 oil tankers. Those named include Ocean…

The EU adopted its 15th package of sanctions against Russia on 16 December, adding 52 vessels from third countries to its list and bringing the total to 79, the Council of the EU said. Listed…

The EU's 15th sanctions package, adopted on 16 December, includes the Arc7 ice-class LNG carrier Christophe de Margerie, the first time the bloc has targeted Yamal LNG by listing a ship serving…

Twelve European countries have agreed to coordinate checks requiring suspected shadow fleet vessels to show proof of insurance as they pass through the English Channel, the Great Belt, the Sound…

The Russian tankers Volgoneft 212 and Volgoneft 239 were badly damaged in a storm in the Kerch Strait on 15 December, each carrying about 4,000 tonnes of fuel, the Kyiv Independent reports.…

Rosneft has pushed back the start of its Vostok Oil project on Siberia's Arctic coast to 2026, citing Western sanctions and a lack of ice-capable tankers, gCaptain reports. The project needs…

Shadow tankers carried 80% of Russia's seaborne crude oil by volume in November, the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) says in its monthly analysis. Of 369 vessels that exported…

The Aframax tanker Attica, sanctioned by the UK in November for carrying Russian oil, is sailing past Shetland rather than through the English Channel, Bloomberg reports, citing tracking data.…

The Panama Maritime Authority has started fast-track procedures to cancel the registration of six Panama-flagged vessels sanctioned by the UK on 25 November, gCaptain reports. It is acting under…

The UK sanctioned 30 oil tankers and the Russian insurers Alfastrakhovanie and VSK on 25 November, the Foreign Office said, bringing the number of tankers it has sanctioned to 73. The government…

Ship-to-ship transfers of Russian fuel have moved to new locations off Greece after naval drills displaced them from the Laconian Gulf, Bloomberg reports. The activity, about 1 million barrels a…

North Korean tankers may have carried more than a million barrels of oil products from Russia since March if fully laden, against a UN cap of 500,000 barrels a year, according to an analysis by…

The UK's Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) has warned that Russian oil is being passed off as non-Russian using forged or fraudulent certificates of origin, getting round the…

The UK has imposed asset freezes on Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) and Iran Air, and placed shipping sanctions on the Russian cargo ship Port Olya-3, gCaptain reports. The…

The EU has sanctioned Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) and its director Mohammad Reza Khiabani, along with Russian shipping firms MG Flot, VTS Broker and Arapax, over Iran's…

Greece's navy has extended for a sixth time the naval exercises in the Laconian Gulf that have hampered ship-to-ship transfers of Russian oil, Bloomberg reports. The drills, which were due to…

Russia's leading tanker company Sovcomflot reported a 22.2% year-on-year fall in revenue to $1.22 billion for the first nine months, Reuters reports, with earnings before interest, tax,…

A cargo of Russian oil appears to have been transferred between tankers near the Spanish exclave of Ceuta, reviving a practice Madrid believed it had stopped, according to Bloomberg tracking…

Mexico has become Cuba's key fuel supplier as deliveries from Venezuela and Russia fall away, the Associated Press reports. About 412,000 barrels of Pemex crude reached the port of Cienfuegos,…

Three sanctioned tankers loaded with gas from Arctic LNG 2, the Nova Energy, Pioneer and Asya Energy, are anchored off Russia's far eastern coast, Bloomberg reports via gCaptain. The Pioneer is…

The UK sanctioned 18 oil tankers and four LNG carriers on 17 October in what it called its largest package yet against Russia's shadow fleet. The government says the 18 oil tankers carried an…

Cleaning up an oil spill from a typical Russian 'shadow' tanker could cost from $859 million in Europe to $1.6 billion in Southeast Asia, the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA)…

About 600 tankers carrying Russian oil passed through the Gulf of Finland between January and May 2024, and 283 of them belonged to Russia's shadow fleet, according to an investigation by…

A quarter of the world's tanker fleet has carried Russian cargo in 2024, according to an analysis by Sergey Vakulenko for the Carnegie Endowment. Of 2,849 oil tankers examined using AIS tracking…

Tankers registered in Gabon are carrying Russian crude through Arctic waters on the Northern Sea Route, The Barents Observer reports. The Sai Baba loaded oil in Murmansk in mid-September and was…

Russia's state tanker operator Sovcomflot has argued that Western sanctions on its vessels are making the oil trade less safe, Bloomberg reports via gCaptain. The company said the restrictions…

The UK sanctioned ten tankers on 11 September, its third round of designations against individual vessels, bringing the number of shadow fleet ships it has sanctioned to 25. The Foreign Office…

The US Treasury sanctioned Iran Air, Iranian logistics firms and ten individuals on 10 September in response to Iran's delivery of close-range ballistic missiles to Russia, and identified four…

The US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned two more LNG carriers, Mulan and New Energy, and two shipping companies on 5 September over their links to Russia's Arctic LNG 2…

Novatek is assembling a 'shadow fleet' of gas carriers to move cargoes from its sanctioned Arctic LNG 2 plant, according to an analysis by Filip Rudnik of the Warsaw-based Centre for Eastern…

The sanctioned LNG carrier Everest Energy has moored alongside the Saam FSU, a floating storage unit in Ura-Guba Bay about 50 kilometres north-west of Murmansk, to transfer cargo, gCaptain…

The LNG carrier Pioneer transferred a cargo from Russia's sanctioned Arctic LNG 2 project to the vessel New Energy on 25 August, about 20 nautical miles north-east of Port Said near the Suez…

The US State Department imposed sanctions on 23 August on seven LNG carriers that it links to Russia's sanctioned Arctic LNG 2 project, gCaptain reports. Pioneer and Asya Energy had called at…

Russia may have up to 50 'shadow' LNG carriers available, nine of which have been confirmed, according to an analysis published on 23 August by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air…

Russia has started using vessels on the EU sanctions list to export oil products, according to Reuters, citing LSEG data and market sources. The Barbados-flagged Saga, formerly NS Spirit, loaded…

Three tankers sanctioned by Britain, Galaxy, Liberty and Rigel, have moved to the Barbados flag, Bloomberg reports. The Barbados registry is run from the country's High Commission in London. The…

The KSE Institute has identified a 'core' group of 86 tankers, 45 for crude and 41 for oil products, that carried Russian oil in every quarter from January 2023 to June 2024. Only eight of them…

Western insurers have continued to cover tankers carrying Russian crude to Asia despite concerns over the G7 price cap, Reuters reports. It found five insurers, the American Club, West of…

The LNG carrier Pioneer loaded the first cargo from Russia's sanctioned Arctic LNG 2 project on 1 August, gCaptain reports, citing satellite images of the 2005-built, 138,000 cubic metre vessel…

The US-sanctioned tanker Victor Bakaev is carrying Russian crude to China along the Northern Sea Route, S&P Global reports. The 118,000 dwt vessel, owned by Sovcomflot, loaded 732,000 barrels of…

The Cook Islands has entered the top 30 ship registries, overtaking Gabon, on Clarksons Research data, Splash247 reports. The registry now holds 259 ships of 6.9 million gross tons, an expansion…

US Assistant Secretary of State for Energy Resources Geoffrey Pyatt says American sanctions have halted Russia's Arctic LNG 2 project, gCaptain reports. Pyatt said Moscow had hoped to raise…

The UK says 44 European countries and the European Union have agreed to work together against Russia's shadow fleet after it launched a 'Call to Action' at the European Political Community…

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…

Greece has extended naval exercises in the Bay of Laconia by two more months, the longest extension so far, Bloomberg reports. The drills began in May and are aimed at stopping risky…

Russia's daily earnings from fossil fuel exports fell by 5% to EUR 664 million in June, the lowest monthly level of 2024, according to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA). In…

Fifty-three tankers sanctioned since October 2023 over Russian oil trade are lying empty and idle around the world, according to a Bloomberg analysis published by Fortune. The vessels were…

Ship-to-ship transfers of Russian LNG at the Kildin anchorage north of Murmansk have already exceeded last year's total of 13, gCaptain reports, with ten between 1 January and 30 April and at…

South Korea has imposed sanctions on four Russian vessels that it says supplied refined oil to North Korea through ship-to-ship transfers, Anadolu Agency reports. Eight North Koreans working for…

The EU Council has adopted a 14th package of sanctions against Russia that subjects 27 vessels to a port access and services ban. The Council says the ships transported military equipment for…

Several of the tankers the UK sanctioned on 13 June are in or heading for the Baltic Sea, Bloomberg reports. The Robon, known to shadow fleet watchers under its previous name Turba, has been…

Denmark is working with allied and Baltic Sea countries on possible measures against Russia's shadow fleet of ageing tankers passing through Danish straits, Reuters reports. No specific steps…

The Liberian Registry, the world's largest flag by capacity, has withdrawn its approval of Russian insurer Ingosstrakh following UK sanctions on the company, Bloomberg reports. The move affects…

Leaders of the Group of Seven, meeting in Apulia, Italy, pledged to take steps including sanctions and "innovative enforcement activities" against Russia's use of a shadow fleet to circumvent…

The UK has for the first time sanctioned individual ships, listing three crude tankers and a product tanker it links to Russia's shadow fleet, The Maritime Executive reports. They are the Cook…

The US Treasury has designated seven LNG carriers under construction, as part of measures against Russia's future energy projects. Four, the Sergei Witte, Alexey Kosygin, Pyotr Stolypin and…

The US-sanctioned tanker SCF Primorye transferred about one million barrels of Urals crude to the Ocean Hermana roughly 70 miles east of Singapore on 3 June, Bloomberg reports. The 900-foot…

Finland has called on the European Union to procure an additional oil-spill response vessel for the northern Baltic Sea, specifically the Gulf of Finland, citing risks from Russia's shadow…

V.Group, one of the largest ship managers, says it stopped managing about 30 tankers in the past year after they were sold to owners who failed its compliance checks, Reuters reports. Chief…

Ship-to-ship transfers of Russian crude have found a new site off the Moroccan city of Nador on the Mediterranean coast, near the Spanish enclave of Melilla, according to ship-tracking data…

The shadow fleet carrying sanctioned oil has grown to about 630 tankers, or 14.5% of the global tanker fleet, up from 530 a year earlier, according to Lloyd's List Intelligence figures reported…

The European Union is considering a member state's proposal to sanction Ingosstrakh, Russia's main provider of cover for tankers carrying Russian oil, Bloomberg reports. Ingosstrakh supplies…

South Korea has sanctioned two Russian vessels, the Maia-1 and the Maria, which it says shuttled between Russia and North Korea carrying military supplies, Korea JoongAng Daily reports. Seven…

Oil tankers have again been forced out of Greece's Laconian Gulf after the navy resumed exercises there on 20 May, Bloomberg reports. Ships briefly returned after a previous notice expired, but…

Most of the 40 tankers sanctioned by the US Treasury since October remain idle months after their designation, according to a Bloomberg analysis. Only one, the SCF Primorye, has collected a…

Britain has imposed sanctions on companies it accuses of facilitating an "arms-for-oil" trade between Russia and North Korea, Reuters reports. Those targeted include Paekyangsan Shipping, which…

The Chinese heavy-lift vessel Wei Xiao Tian Shi is carrying two modules for the third production train of Novatek's sanctioned Arctic LNG 2 project towards Murmansk, gCaptain reports. The 62,074…

Greece has extended a naval exercise advisory covering the Laconian Gulf, off the south-eastern Peloponnese, in a move aimed at discouraging ship-to-ship transfers of Russian oil, according to…

The European Union's proposed 14th sanctions package against Russia would ban the use of EU facilities to transship Russian liquefied natural gas to third countries, Reuters reports. The draft…

Russia's $25 billion Arctic LNG 2 plant on the Kara Sea is virtually idle despite being ready to ship gas, because US sanctions imposed in 2023 halted it before full production began, according…

The US State Department has announced sanctions against four shipping operators and their vessels over deliveries to Russia's Arctic projects, gCaptain reports. Singapore-based Red Box, whose…

The White House has said Russia is shipping refined petroleum to North Korea from Port Vostochny at levels that appear to violate the UN cap of 500,000 barrels a year, Reuters reports. National…

At least four Sovcomflot tankers have changed names and flags since the latest US sanctions, according to a Bloomberg analysis reported by The Maritime Executive. The Kemerovo, Belgorod,…

Russia's oil export revenues rose to $17.2 billion in March 2024, according to the KSE Institute's Russian Oil Tracker published on 30 April. Only 36% of Russian oil exports were carried by…

A Houthi missile attack caused minor damage to the tanker Andromeda Star about 14 nautical miles south-west of Al Mukha, Yemen, on 26 April, The Maritime Executive reports. The ship had been…

Greenpeace Nordic activists in two rubber boats painted slogans on the 8,000-tonne bunker vessel Zircone off the Swedish island of Gotland on 12 April, The Maritime Executive reports. Swedish…

Russia's veto ending UN monitoring of sanctions on North Korea will further embolden Pyongyang, Edward Howell argues in a Chatham House commentary published on 8 April. He writes that North…

Novatek has suspended production at its Arctic LNG 2 project because of sanctions and a shortage of gas tankers, two sources told Reuters, as reported by gCaptain on 2 April. The halt is…

South Korea has sanctioned two Russian ships, the Lady R and the Angara, which it says carried military supplies between Russia and North Korea, The Korea Times reports. Seoul also listed two…

At least five North Korean-flagged oil products tankers travelled to Vostochny port in Russia's Far East in March to collect oil products, according to research by the Financial Times and RUSI…

The United States and South Korea have set up a task force to stop North Korea obtaining oil illicitly, Reuters reports. The Enhanced Disruption Task Force met for the first time in Washington…

Houthi missiles struck the Panama-flagged suezmax Huang Pu in the Red Sea on 23 March, according to US Central Command, Lloyd's List reports. The China-owned and operated tanker was heading to…

All of India's refiners have stopped accepting Russian crude carried on Sovcomflot tankers because of US sanctions, Bloomberg reported, according to gCaptain. People familiar with the matter…

At least 20 tankers transited the Danish straits without Danish pilots in 2024, carrying about 10 million barrels of oil, according to a leaked report seen by the Financial Times and Danish…

The 15-year-old tanker Andromeda Star was involved in a collision with an unnamed vessel off Skagen on 2 March, the Danish Maritime Authority confirmed to Bloomberg, according to The Maritime…

The US Treasury designated Sovcomflot, Russia's largest state-owned shipping company, on 23 February and identified 14 of its crude oil tankers as blocked property, among them the Anatoly…

The EU adopted its 13th package of sanctions against Russia on 23 February, two years into the full-scale war, taking its listings past 2,000, the European Commission said. The new listings…

Stepped-up enforcement of the G7-led price cap is forcing Russia to sell its oil at a steeper discount, according to a US Treasury analysis published on 23 February. The discount Russia earns…

The UK on 22 February sanctioned Russian oil trader Niels Troost and his Geneva-based company Paramount Energy & Commodities SA, accusing them of facilitating "unfettered trade in Russian oil"…

Houthi forces fired missiles at the Panama-flagged tanker Pollux in the Red Sea, north-west of Yemen's port of Mokha, AFP reports, with at least three of four anti-ship ballistic missiles…

Shadow tankers carried 64% of Russia's seaborne crude in January 2024, with vessels owned or insured in price cap coalition countries carrying the remaining 36%, the Centre for Research on…

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…

Russia's Arctic LNG 2 has been producing for more than six weeks but has not shipped a cargo, and first deliveries expected in January or February have slipped to at least March, High North News…

The US Treasury on 8 February sanctioned four companies and blocked the Gabon-flagged crude tanker NS Leader over what it says was a breach of the Russian oil price cap. According to Treasury,…

Some 196 loaded shadow fleet tankers left Russian ports in December 2023, 73% of them more than 15 years old, according to the KSE Institute's Russian Oil Tracker published on 2 February. Most…

The Price Cap Coalition of the G7, the European Union and Australia published a compliance and enforcement alert on 1 February setting out six red flags for evasion of the Russian oil price cap.…

More than a dozen tankers carrying about 10 million barrels of Russian Sokol crude were idling off South Korea's Yosu port, unsold because of US sanctions and payment problems, Reuters reported…

A Houthi anti-ship ballistic missile struck the Marshall Islands-flagged tanker Marlin Luanda about 60 nautical miles south-east of Aden on 26 January, setting one cargo tank on fire, gCaptain…

The US Treasury on 18 January designated UAE-based Hennesea Holdings Limited and identified 18 tankers it says the company beneficially owns, including the HS Atlantica. Treasury alleges…

Russian state shipping company Sovcomflot is moving about 50 tankers from the Liberian register to Gabon's, Splash247 reports, with some 46 having completed the switch by 11 January. Gabon's…