Since the beginning of October 2023, the United States has tightened sanctions against a wide fleet of tankers carrying Russian oil. Since then, dozens of Russian, targeted by sanctions, have been standing still at the ports.
Bloomberg reports that Russian oil market is finally feeling the effects of the sanctions. The tankers of the state-owned Sovcomflot stopped accepting all Indian oil refiners.
Dozens of ships under sanctions are prohibited from loading cargo.
The Russian oil export, the main source of financing the Kremlin’s war against Ukraine is suffering losses.
While no drastic supply cuts are expected at this stage, the question is how far Western regulators will go in tightening the screws while oil prices head towards $90 a barrel.
The cost of shipping Russian oil is huge. According to Argus Media, it costs about $14.50 per barrel to ship cargo through the Baltic Sea to China. According to the agency’s estimates, more than half of losses of this amount is caused by sanctions.
In addition, the attacks of Ukrainian drones on Russian oil refineries reduce the profits of the Russian Federation. Earlier it was reported that as a result of Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian refineries, about 600,000 barrels per day of Russia’s oil refining capacity were disabled.