New data on the shadow fleet shows an increasing number of tankers are seeking the protection of Moscow by changing their flag of registration to Russia.
That trend has been further accelerated by the United States’ seizures of vessels carrying sanctioned Venezuelan oil.
President Donald Trump has said U.S. oil companies will invest billions of dollars in Venezuela’s energy sector, after the overthrow of President Nicolás Maduro. Chevron, ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil are reportedly planning to meet with the Trump administration later this week. Trump also said the big oil companies will either “get reimbursed by us or through revenue.”
“We have seen an accelerated shift of vessels changing to the Russian flag over the past month,” said Richard Meade, editor-in-chief of Lloyd’s List. “Seventeen shadow fleet tankers changed fraudulent flags to join the Russian flag in the past few weeks alone.”
One of the latest high-profile sanctioned vessels to be newly registered under the Russian flag is the Bella 1, the tanker the United States stopped Dec. 20 during the ship’s transit to Venezuela to be filled with the sanctioned crude.
