Russian Shadow Fleet Tanker With 730,000 Barrels of Crude Drifts Out of Control in Mediterranean

A Russian oil tanker under European Union and UK sanctions for transporting Russian crude drifted in the Mediterranean Sea after appearing to run into trouble off Algeria, according to Bloomberg on January 23. 

The LR2 tanker Progress, carrying about 720,000 to 730,000 barrels  of Russia’s Urals crude, had been sailing east along North Africa toward the Suez Canal when it abruptly turned north on Wednesday and left established shipping lanes.

Early Thursday, its navigation status switched to “Not under command,” and its speed dropped to about one knot, a designation used when a vessel cannot maneuver due to mechanical problems and may be unable to give way to other ships. Tracking data showed the tanker was still drifting east at about one knot by midday Friday. 

A post on X by RapidReport2025 shared an open-source tracking map that showed the tanker’s route change off Algeria and its subsequent drift, along with an image identified as the vessel itself.

Progress is a 19-year-old vessel listed by Equasis as managed by St. Petersburg-based Legacy Marine, and it is blacklisted by both the EU and the UK, according to the same reports.

The outlets said the tanker recently switched to the Russian flag, was added to the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping in November and has changed its name twice since being sanctioned.

The incident comes as Western governments intensify scrutiny of Russia’s so-called shadow fleet, a network of tankers used to move oil despite restrictions. 

Earlier, it was reported that the French Navy boarded a Russia-origin oil tanker suspected of flying a false flag and breaching sanctions, and that a judicial investigation was opened and the vessel was diverted.

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