![]() ![]() The US Treasury did not immediately respond to a request for comment on ships carrying sanctioned oil. Reuters was unable to independently verify the numbers regarding the size and growth of the shadow fleet. Some cautioned that the size of the shadow fleet was becoming more difficult to gauge given the complex layers of compliance around sanctions on Russian oil, which is banned from many Western ports and subject to a price cap by G7 countries. Meanwhile, economic penalties imposed on Moscow by Washington and other Western capitals because of the Ukraine conflict have led to dozens more ships plying the shadow trade, the industry participants said. Iran’s oil minister said this month that the country’s oil exports had reached their highest level since the reimposition of US sanctions in 2018, with 83 million more barrels exported in the past year versus the year before. ![]() ![]() The number of tankers transporting Iranian crude and products - excluding the state’s own fleet - has risen to more than 300 this month from 70 in November 2020, said Claire Jungman, chief of staff at US advocacy group United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), which tracks Iranian-related tanker traffic via satellite data. “Our data shows that it has now reached around 650 units,” said Andrea Olivi, head of wet freight at commodity trader Trafigura, which estimates that two-thirds of that number are crude tankers. Several of the shipping players interviewed said oil producers hit by sanctions had little choice but to use less tightly vetted vessels to keep their exports flowing and shore up their stumbling economies.Įstimates of the size of the shadow fleet vary, with industry participants putting the number at anything from more than 400 to north of 600, or roughly a fifth of the overall global crude oil tanker fleet. Government officials from Iran, Venezuela and Russia, which do not recognise Western sanctions, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. “We do not have visibility on maintenance and safety as no-one is really boarding the ships and doing checks - that is missing.” “You have the dark fleet which has not been vetted so much and that is a concern,” said Jan Dieleman, president of commodities group Cargill’s ocean transportation division. None of the eight incidents caused any injuries or significant pollution. That is the same number as the previous three years combined, though still a fraction of the overall 61 incidents recorded across the whole shipping industry in 2022, the analysis found. In 2022 there were at least eight groundings, collisions or near misses involving tankers carrying sanctioned crude or oil products, including the events off China, Cuba and Spain, according to a Reuters analysis based on ship-tracking information and Lloyd’s List Intelligence data on vessel incidents. Some industry figures fear this parallel trade carrying tens of millions of barrels of oil around the world could undermine decades-long industry efforts to increase shipping safety after disasters including the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska, which caused devastating environmental damage. Many leading certification providers and engine makers that approve seaworthiness and safety have withdrawn their services from ships carrying oil from sanctioned Iran, Russia and Venezuela, as have a host of insurers, meaning there is less oversight of vessels carrying the flammable cargoes. because someone is running into us or loses control, which is a much bigger risk on those kinds of ships because they are older and not as well maintained.” “The risk of having an accident is definitely going up,” said Eric Hanell, CEO of tanker operator Stena Bulk. Hundreds of ships have joined this opaque parallel trade in the past few years as a result of rising Iranian oil exports as well as restrictions imposed on Russian energy sales due to the war in Ukraine, said the industry players, who include commodity traders, shipping companies, insurers and regulators. These vessels were part of a “shadow” fleet of tankers carrying oil in 2022 from countries hit by Western sanctions, according to a Reuters analysis of ship tracking and accident data and interviews with more than a dozen industry specialists. A third is seized in Spain for drifting out of control. Another is caught in a collision near Cuba. London - An oil tanker runs aground off eastern China, leaking fuel into the water. ![]()
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