Russian crude shipments stalled due to US sanctions
Investing.com -- Crude shipments from Sakhalin Island in Russia are currently not being discharged due to the US sanctions imposed on the tankers transporting them. Approximately 6.3 million barrels of Pacific crude are held in vessels that have been stationary for at least a week.
Out of the eight Sokol shipments loaded since the shuttle tankers used to transport the grade were sanctioned, only one has been discharged. Two others have been transferred to a supertanker anchored near Nakhodka, a Russian port, while the rest are idle. If no more cargoes are removed from shuttle tankers soon, the Sakhalin 1 energy project may run out of empty vessels to load its crude.
A similar situation is being observed with Sakhalin 2. The Galaxy, a fourth tanker, has been employed to transport the grade, in addition to the dedicated fleet of three shuttles, which are all idle. However, it is now also floating, moving at a speed of one knot off the Japanese island of Hokkaido while indicating a destination of Gulei in China.
If cargoes are not accepted at receiving terminals, the floating storage of Russian oil could quickly increase. A cargo from Murmansk, shipped after the sanctions were imposed, is already on a ship signaling OPL Oman, a potential storage site, as its destination.
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