The waters of Lakonikos Bay, on the southeast side of the Peloponnese peninsula in Greece, are a brilliant turquoise color. Its shores are an important nesting site for sea turtles.
However, it is not just a place of natural beauty. The area has become an important hub for tankers carrying Russian energy exports.
As crude and refined petroleum products that would normally go to the European Union are redirected to Asia – with most maritime oil imports banned by the bloc in response to Moscow’s attack on Ukraine – cargoes are being transferred here in larger vessels. to make the long journey.
Ship-to-ship transfers of Russian oil have grown rapidly in recent months, reaching a record high during the first three months of the year, according to data from S&P Global, a research firm.
Near Greece, more than 3.5 million barrels of Russian gas oil, a refined product used in heating and transport systems, were transferred between ships in March. That’s more than seven times the volume recorded by S&P Global for that month in 2022.
The transfers highlight the dramatic transformation of the global oil market since Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine nearly 14 months ago.
As China, India and Turkey fill the void left by Europe, which was the main buyer of Russian oil and products, voyages have lengthened, requiring more ships – and data from S&P Global indicates that mid-voyage transfers are increasing. have become more common.
“We’ve seen a huge increase in ship transfers in the Mediterranean,” said Matthew Wright, senior freight analyst at Kpler, a data group. “Smaller ships arrive from Russian ports, transfer cargo to larger ships, and then those larger ships head to Asia.”
Many of these ships form part of what has become known as the “gray fleet”.
Industry experts like Wright use that term to refer to vessels that started transporting Russian oil last year. For many, little is known about its owners, who may be a shell company.
The “grey fleet” is not necessarily doing anything underhanded. But Western observers like Wright say the emergence of this network, where ownership is often masked, has reduced transparency in the oil market, making it harder for regulators to monitor.
Australia, Canada and the United States recently said in a presentation to the International Maritime Organization that more ships were illegally turning off their transponders before transferring oil in international waters. Turning off transponders, which transmit location data, could be a way to avoid sanctions, they said.
Fred Kenney, director of legal and external affairs at the IMO, told CNN that the alarm about this practice has increased in the last year. Collisions are more likely in these cases, increasing the chances of a devastating oil spill.
It’s also harder to say whether vessels with obscure ownership comply with the strict rules governing oil transfers at sea, according to Kenney.
“There is a significant level of concern that the regulatory regime that ensures safe and secure shipping in clean oceans is being undermined,” he said.
a shady business
Russia’s oil export volumes have recovered to levels last seen before the invasion of Ukraine, according to the International Energy Agency, although the country is still facing a sharp drop in revenue from those exports.
The Group of Seven countries have capped the price of Russian oil and oil products, and a smaller group of buyers can also negotiate deeper discounts.
Chinese imports of Russian oil in the first quarter of the year increased by 38% compared with the previous year, according to Kpler data. Those from India fired nearly ten times.
As the Russian oil trade has become more complex, many Western shippers have backed off. New, more opaque actors entered the scene, contributing to the formation of the “gray fleet”.
According to UK-based market intelligence firm VesselsValue, tanker sales to start-ups or undisclosed buyers make up around 33% of tanker deals so far this year.
Sales to unknown buyers accounted for just 10% of the total in 2022 and 4% in 2021.
tracking a ship
Using satellite imagery from space technology company Maxar, the CNN managed to locate pairs of oil tankers dotting Lakonikos Bay. Together with Kpler, the CNN worked out the details of one of the transfers.
According to data from the transponders of the two ships, the smaller tanker docked in St. Petersburg, Russia, where it picked up a cargo of fuel oil at the end of February.
A CNN then tracked it across Western Europe to the Mediterranean Sea. At that point, she unloaded her cargo onto the larger ship that had arrived from the direction of the port of Novorossiysk on the Black Sea in Russia. Kpler considers this vessel to be part of the “gray fleet”.
From there, the larger tanker continued through the Suez Canal, the main sea route from Europe to Asia.
Ship to ship transfer center in Greece
A CNN tracked the voyages of two ships that met in Lakonikos Bay, Greece, in mid-March.
Fuel oil from the smaller vessel traveling from St. Petersburg, Russia, was transferred to a larger vessel that departed near Novorossiysk to the south, according to Kpler. That tanker then traveled through the Suez Canal, presumably on its way to Asia.
As transactions like these become more common, experts are increasingly concerned about the risks.
While the transfer of oil from one vessel to another is not uncommon, the IMO’s Kenney said that ships in the “grey fleet” – harder to monitor if it’s not clear who owns them – may not be following best practice.
“There are countless things that can go wrong in a ship-to-ship transfer, which is why there is a comprehensive set of industry rules that govern these transfers,” he said, noting the potential for a spill.
Canada, Japan and the United Kingdom have pointed out that there is a greater risk of accidental collisions between ships if transponders are turned off. Kpler has documented multiple instances of this, often illegal, practice in 2022.
“When we see ships or we get reports of ships turning off their transponders, it concerns us,” Kenney said.
Source: CNN Brasil
Bruce Belcher is a seasoned author with over 5 years of experience in world news. He writes for online news websites and provides in-depth analysis on the world stock market. Bruce is known for his insightful perspectives and commitment to keeping the public informed.
