Russia renames its oil tankers amid US sanctions

Serhii Palya

Source: Bloomberg

Russian state-owned company Sovkomflot has renamed some of its oil tankers following US sanctions.

Russian "Sovcomflot" renames oil tankers, come under US sanctions

The publication of Bloomberg notes that "Sovcomflot" came under US sanctions in February. The sanctions list also included 14 company tankers.

Now the ships were renamed, some were named after Russian cities, and also changed their flags from Gabonese to Russian. Bloomberg writes that this will give Russia more confidence in how it can use them.

Although the renaming may seem audacious, it will nevertheless make these vessels — and their associations with Russia — more overt, the journalists believe.

According to Bloomberg, at least four tankers changed their names and went under the Russian flag: NS Columbus became Kemerovo (IMO number 9312884), NS Bravo became Belgorod (9412359), NS Captain became Kaliningrad (9341067), and NS Creation became Krasnoyarsk.

In addition to creating a shadow fleet to transport its oil while under Western sanctions, Russia relies heavily on the giant Sovcomflot tanker fleet.

The company remains the world's largest owner of Aframax-class tankers, each of which is capable of transporting about 700,000 barrels of oil.

Tankers often change names after being sanctioned to distance themselves from listings in sanctions databases. However, they can be identified by unique and unchanging numbers registered with the International Maritime Organisation.

What is known about the US sanctions against Russia?

The US, along with other G7 countries that are part of the Price Limit Coalition, are working on additional steps to reduce Russia's ability to earn profits from the sale of oil, which the Kremlin uses in its war against Ukraine.

Since the beginning of October, the United States has tightened sanctions against a wide fleet of tankers carrying Russian oil, since then dozens of tankers that have come under sanctions have been idle.

Russian oil companies have been facing delays in payments for oil and fuel for several months as banks in China, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have become more cautious due to secondary US sanctions.