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These are the most effective sanctions against Russian maritime trade that have been applied since the beginning of the Russian Federation's full-scale invasion.
LONDON, Jan 13 (Reuters) - At least 65 oil tankers have dropped anchor at multiple locations, including off the coasts of China and Russia, since the United States announced a new sanctions package on Jan. 10, ship tracking data showed on Monday.
Five of those tankers were stationary off Chinese ports and a further seven dropped anchor off Singapore, with others halting near Russia in the Baltic Sea and the Far East, according to Reuters' analysis based on MarineTraffic and LSEG ship tracking data.
The U.S. Treasury on Friday imposed sanctions on Russian oil producers Gazprom Neft and Surgutneftegaz, as well as on 183 vessels that have shipped Russian oil, as it targets the revenues Moscow has used to fund its war with Ukraine.
The halt in trading for these tankers adds to further pressure on vessels already hit by previous U.S. sanctions.
These include another 25 oil tankers that were stationary around various locations, including off Iranian ports and also near to the Suez Canal, ship tracking analysis showed on Monday.
Some ports have already acted before the latest measures, adding further strains. Shandong Port Group banned tankers under U.S. sanctions from calling at its ports, traders said last week.
Analysts estimated that around 10% of the global oil tanker fleet was subject to US sanctions.
"The effect of these sanctions should be supportive to the tanker market as vessel supply in the broader fleet shrinks, but the real potential strength would come once other exporters make up for the lost volumes," Jefferies analyst Omar Nokta said in a note on Monday.
Average daily earnings for supertankers jumped over 10% on Monday versus the previous day to around $26,000, according to market estimates.
Some charterers already tried to secure ships on Friday after the sanctions were announced, pointing to the tightening supply of ships.
"Increased demand for exports to India and China from outside Russia will increase non-sanctioned tanker demand," trade analytics platform Kpler said on Monday.
MOSCOW, Jan 14 (Reuters) - Russia's vast Arctic oil business is facing major disruption from U.S. sanctions on its tankers and depots, stranding crude supplies previously snapped up by Asian buyers in storage, according to three sources familiar with its logistics.
The sanctions, opens new tab unveiled on Friday are the toughest yet on Russia's oil sector, targeting major producers Gazprom Neft (SIBN.MM), opens new tab and Surgutneftegas as well as 183 vessels that have shipped Russian oil.
Three sources who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity said all three of Russia's Arctic oil grades - Novy Port, ARCO and Varandey, with about 300,000 barrels of output per day - face disruption.
The vessels and infrastructure needed by Russia's Arctic oil business, which accounts for a tenth of its seaborne oil exports, are unique, two of the sources said.
Novy Port crude from Gazprom Neft's Novoportovskoye field, where temperatures can hit -55 C, ARCO, from the Prirazlomnaya offshore platform, and Varandey, from Lukoil's Timan-Pechora fields, are shuttled by a special type of ice-class vessel to the Umba and Kola floating storage facilities near Murmansk.
It is then offloaded to larger vessels - Aframax or Suezmax that can carry 100,000-140,000 tons, compared to the smaller vessels' 30,000 tons - for shipment to the international market.
The United States has now sanctioned both Umba and Kola, and more than a dozen small tankers used as shuttle suppliers of oil from the fields.
According to LSEG data, at least 15 of the tankers sanctioned by the U.S. on Friday, including the Shturman Scherbinin, Mikhail Ulyanov and Aulis, have been actively involved in shipping Russian Arctic grades during the last two months.
The smaller shuttle tankers were designed to operate in northern seas and have a specific design allowing them to load more oil without compromising keel clearance.
"There is no option to replace those quickly. Nothing like this to buy elsewhere. The vessels were specifically built for the projects," one of the sources said.
That could leave Russia with millions of barrels of unsold oil in storage, the sources said. According to one, the limited storage capacities at all three projects mean a couple of weeks of loading disruptions might lead to cuts in output.
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Gazprom Neft, which produces ARCO and Novy Port, was also added to the U.S. sanction package directly, although Lukoil, which produces Varandey, was not.
ASIA BOUND
Novy Port and Varandey are favoured by refiners worldwide for their high quality - both are light, with 0.1-0.4% sulphur.
The Arctic grades, which prior to a 2022 EU embargo had been purchased by refineries in northwest Europe, have more recently been snapped up by refiners in India and China.
"Light Arctic oil grades from Russia were priced above the (G7) price cap due to their premium quality," one of the sources familiar with dealings in the Indian oil market said.
India and China have shown however that they are not ready to accept oil coming from sanctioned tankers, and have started to look for replacements for Russian oil.
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India reduced U.S. oil buying after it started to snap up cheap Russian barrels from the market a couple of years ago, but a source at one Indian refiner said his company is looking at buying more U.S. oil.
"If we don't make a 'deal,' and soon, I have no other choice but to put high levels of Taxes, Tariffs, and Sanctions on anything being sold by Russia to the United States, and various other participating countries," Trump said.
"If we don't make a 'deal,' and soon, I have no other choice but to put high levels of Taxes, Tariffs, and Sanctions on anything being sold by Russia to the United States, and various other participating countries," Trump said.
Eric Holder says
"If we don't make a 'deal,' and soon, I have no other choice but to put high levels of Taxes, Tariffs, and Sanctions on anything being sold by Russia to the United States, and various other participating countries," Trump said.
What did Biden miss something ???
The Russian economy faced a precipitous drop in export revenues at the end of 2024, according to statistics from the Central Bank of the Russian Federation.
In December, exporters exported goods worth $31.3 billion, and their revenue fell by 19% year-on-year. Of this amount, $25.7 billion left the country to pay for imports. As a result, the net inflow from foreign trade (trade surplus) shrank to $5.6 billion, the lowest since 2020. If you take into account the export and import of services, then in December the Russian economy earned only $2 billion in trade surplus, and this is also the lowest since the pandemic.
“The deterioration in foreign trade at the end of the year could have been due to the effect of sanctions imposed at the end of November against the Russian banking sector, which affected payments and, apparently, slowed down export flows,” Raiffeisenbank analysts write. Gazprombank, the last of the large state-owned banks that retained access to dollar settlements and the SWIFT system, fell under the American restrictions. Along with it, 50 more credit institutions that serviced foreign trade were blacklisted.
The Russian economy saw even less real currency: in December, foreign assets of Russian companies, according to the Central Bank, grew by another $4.9 billion. This means that “part of the foreign exchange earnings remains in accounts abroad and does not enter the domestic currency market,” says BCS analyst Ilya Fedorov. Over the year, the volume of such “frozen” income, according to Moneyroo estimates, reached $20 billion.
In the long, deplorable history of stupid foreign policy decisions, one big blunder stands out: Biden’s pugilistic decision to impose massive, across-the-board sanctions on Russia. In three short years, instead of bankrupting Russia, Biden’s sanctions skyrocketed Russia up the economic charts to fourth largest economy in the world, and transformed it from a “developing” to a “wealthy” economy.
The main reason why Biden’s sanctions backfired so spectacularly is because they solved Putin’s biggest economic problem. At the risk of oversimplifying, let’s recap recent history. Following the collapse of communism in the late 80’s, Russia’s fledgling free market flourished. But it came with a lot of crime. All that crime eventually blossomed into a cruel cartel of corrupt oligarchs.
So the Russian people elected Vladimir Putin, at least in part, with a mandate to clamp down on the rampant crime and corruption accompanying the country’s freed market. Putin did. Many corrupt oligarchs accidentally tumbled off the balconies of their luxury high-rise apartments, taking speedy, one-way trips to the pavement.
But even as corruption was brought under control, Russia’s reforming economy still sputtered.
Russia’s next problem was that even its loyal, law-abiding oligarchs and entrepreneurs rationally saw better financial prospects outside Russia. It was a chicken-and-egg problem. Russia’s lack of development encouraged its entrepreneurs to invest in other countries. This kind of capital drift slowly bled Russia’s economy, which was stuck in a vicious cycle— perhaps better than communism, but still not quite first world.
Enter the answer to all Putin’s financial problems: Joseph Robinette Biden. After Biden closed off international investment as a viable option, Russia’s capitalists had no choice but to start investing back into Russia. This new domestic focus created an economic renaissance like nothing in Russian history. Russia’s economy has improved in nearly every measure.
Hapless Joe Biden single-handedly created a Golden Age in Russia.
WASHINGTON — President Trump is prepared to increase US sanctions for Russia to bring about an end to its war on Ukraine, retired Gen. Keith Kellogg, his special envoy to the conflict, exclusively told The Post this week ...-- New York Post
Sanctions enforcement on Russia are “only about a 3” on a scale of 1 to 10 on how painful the economic pressure can be, Kellogg said. The US sanctions themselves — such as those targeting Russia’s lucrative energy sector — are nominally twice as high, but there is still room to ratchet them up.
“You could really increase the sanctions — especially the latest sanctions [targeting oil production and exports,]” he said. “It’s opened the aperture way high to do something.
“And if there’s anybody who understands leverage, it’s President Donald J. Trump, and you can see that with what he’s recently done [in other foreign problem-solving.]”
Ukrainian drones struck a key pumping station on a major international pipeline in southern Russia, disrupting oil supplies from Kazakhstan, the pipeline operator said Monday.
In the latest attack overnight, seven explosive-laden drones struck a pumping station of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC), which carries Kazakh oil across southern Russia for export via the Black Sea, including to Western Europe.
"Oil transportation through the Tengiz-Novorossiysk pipeline system is being carried out at reduced pumping levels," the company said on social media.
The 1,500-kilometer (930-mile) pipeline is operated by a consortium that includes the Russian and Kazakh governments, as well as Western energy majors Chevron, ExxonMobil and Shell. In 2024, the pipeline loaded more than 63 million tons of oil onto tankers at its terminal in the southern Russian port of Novorossiysk, the company said.
The overnight attack targeted the Kropotkinskaya pumping station, the pipeline's largest in Russia's southern Krasnodar region.
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"MOSCOW, Feb 24 (Reuters) - Russia's Ryazan oil refinery has suspended operations after an attack by Ukrainian drones on Monday, three industry sources told Reuters.
The main crude distillation unit at the refinery, CDU-6, caught fire in the attack and the plant has fully suspended oil processing, the sources said.
Rosneft, which owns the plant, did not respond to a request for comment. Ukraine's military said on Monday some of its drones had hit the Ryazan oil refinery overnight, with at least five explosions occurring in its vicinity.
The governor of the Ryazan region, Pavel Malkov, said on the Telegram messaging app that falling debris from destroyed Ukrainian drones had sparked a fire at an industrial enterprise in the region. Malkov did not elaborate.
The CDU-6 unit has a capacity of some 170,000 bpd, or some 48% of Ryazan's refining capacity.
Ryazan refinery partially resumed oil processing and loading of motor fuels to railway tanks on February 11 after staying idle for 18 days after another attack by Ukrainian drones on January 24.
Ryazan refinery processed 13.1 million metric tons (262,000 barrels per day), or almost 5% of Russia's total refining throughput in 2024.
On the night of 25-26 February, Ukraine’s Defence Intelligence (DIU), in coordination with other units of the defence forces, launched an attack on the Tuapse oil refinery in Russia’s Krasnodar Krai.
The source indicates that the attack resulted in at least 40 explosions and a fire at the facility, damaging oil refining equipment.
Local residents have shared photos and videos online showing the aftermath and reported that the attack also targeted the local seaport.
The affected facilities play a key role in supplying logistical support to the Russian forces.
Further details on the damage caused by the strike are being clarified.
Ukies have this so in the bag, with just the Europeans paying for Ukraine, they'll have no problem. If the Russians cross the Vistula we have nukes.
MOSCOW, Jan 14 (Reuters) - Russia's vast Arctic oil business is facing major disruption from U.S. sanctions
Another refinery denazified:
https://x.com/bayraktar_1love/status/1896335503898599824
Ukraine has carried out a second attack on oil export infrastructure in Russia's Krasnodar region in the space of a month, striking a transshipment and storage facility which processes more than 28,000 barrels per day of Russian oil destined for international markets.
Krasnodar authorities on Wednesday confirmed that suicide drones attacked the privately-operated Kazkazskaya facility in the south of the country in the early hours of 19 March. The aerial assault caused a large fire, according to pictures and videos of the incident posted by witnesses on Russian social networks on Wednesday.
Russia's defence ministry said that three Ukrainian drones were used in the attack on the facility, carried out shortly after Moscow and Washington agreed a partial ceasefire to halt strikes on each others' energy and power generating infrastructure. An oil reservoir on the site has burned out as a result of the attack, the ministry said.
Kazkazskaya receives light and sweet oil from Russian producers by rail, and then ships the crude about 13 kilometres via pipeline to the Kropotkinskaya pumping and storage station operated by Caspian Pipeline Consortium.
The facility was responsible for delivering more than 28,000 barrels per day of Russian oil to the Caspian Pipeline last year, or about 19% of total Russian oil exports via the network, according to reports in Moscow.
The attack on Kazkazskaya follows an earlier strike on the Kropotkinskaya pumping station by Ukrainian drones. The facility on 17 February reportedly suffered damage to its gas-fired power generation and electronic control rooms which manage the pumping facility.
After assessing the damage to Kropotkinskaya, Caspian Pipeline Consortium indicated that repairs would take about two months during which operations of the station will be stopped, with expected completion in May.
Before the Proxy War, Russia’s economy was over-reliant on foreign investment. Biden’s sanctions made foreign investment impossible, and the unexpected result was a renaissance in Russia’s economy, as Russian billionaires —cut off from their London townhouses and Swiss banks— were forced to invest at home.
Cut off from the West, Russia didn’t wither. It de-globalized and re-nationalized— and it worked. In just two years, Russia rocketed from mid-level doldrums to the top of the world’s wealthiest countries list. Once an ailing, foreign-dependent economy, Russia is now independent, politically stable, economically self-sufficient, and —despite all expert predictions— stronger than ever.
Once an ailing, foreign-dependent economy, Russia is now independent, politically stable, economically self-sufficient, and —despite all expert predictions— stronger than ever.
Before the Proxy War, Russia’s economy was over-reliant on foreign investment. Biden’s sanctions made foreign investment impossible, and the unexpected result was a renaissance in Russia’s economy, as Russian billionaires —cut off from their London townhouses and Swiss banks— were forced to invest at home.
Who is 'we'?
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https://www.globalpetrolprices.com/Russia/gasoline_prices/?source=patrick.net
Gas in Russia is cheaper than Gas in Qatar or Bahrain or Saudi Arabia.
Unable to buy $30/lb luxury Italian Cheese, $30/bottle midrange French Wines, expensive German Audio Equipment... what will the Russians do with themselves?
Eat local cheese, drink local beer, and buy the same audio equipment from China that's on Amazon USA