US and UK to Focus on Russia’s Shadow Oil Fleet in New Talks This Week

The use of a covert “shadow fleet” by Moscow to transport oil in defiance of western sanctions will be a primary focus during discussions between US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy in London this week. The talks are set to take place ahead of US President Joe Biden’s meeting with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Washington.

According to The Guardian, Russia has been using older, uninsured tankers to move oil and liquefied natural gas outside the framework of western sanctions. These vessels operate without western insurance and have been involved in risky ship-to-ship oil transfers near international waters, including off the eastern coast of Sweden. This activity is part of an effort to bypass a $60-a-barrel price cap imposed by the West on Russian oil exports, a measure designed to limit Moscow’s revenues without causing a spike in global oil prices.

Despite the sanctions, a recent study by the Kyiv School of Economics revealed that Russia’s oil revenues reached $17.1 billion in July due to rising oil prices and insufficient enforcement of the price cap. The report also highlighted that while 307 tankers transported Russian crude from January 2023 to June 2024, only a small fraction of these ships have been sanctioned by the US, EU, or UK.

Efforts to disrupt this shadow fleet have been slow. In July, Starmer led an international call at the European Political Community summit in Blenheim to increase pressure on countries allowing these tankers to operate under their flags. However, the number of tankers evading sanctions has not significantly decreased.

The US and UK are expected to discuss further strategies to strengthen enforcement and pressure flag states, ports, and maritime industries to limit the fleet’s activities. One recent success saw Eswatini, a landlocked African state, dismantle its ship registry used for flagging tankers linked to this shadow fleet, following action from the International Maritime Organization.

Earlier reports indicated that Russia’s efforts to use the shadow fleet to bypass sanctions have led to a rise in illegal oil shipments. Studies showed that a significant portion of these tankers are registered in countries such as Panama, Liberia, and the Marshall Islands, with key destinations being India, China, and Turkey, reflecting a shift from traditional EU markets.