Russia’s Sovcomflot and 14 tankers linked to its operations have found themselves on the US sanctions list as part of Washington’s fresh bid to further stifle Moscow’s attempts to skirt a price cap on crude exports. The sanctions against the state-run shipping giant are for “operating or having operated in the marine sector of the Russian Federation economy,” the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), said. The Group of 7 Nations, the EU and Australia agreed in 2022 to cap Russia’s oil export prices at $60 per barrel, which led to an increasing number of the so-called shadow tankers. Sovcomflot had already been sanctioned by Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the UK and faced EU restrictions. “Today, we take the next step by targeting Russia’s largest state-owned shipping company and fleet operator, dealing a huge blow to their shadow operations,” said deputy secretary of the treasury Wally Adeyemo. The treasury’s latest oil price cap enforcement action, which has seen nearly 30 tankers sanctioned, blocks Sovcomflot’s access to US-owned property and prevents US individuals and firms from doing business with them. OFAC has issued a general licence allowing the offloading of crude oil or other cargo from the 14 sanctioned tankers for 45 days and authorising transactions with all other Sovcomflot-owned vessels at this time. In its latest analysis, the treasury said that the increased sanctions enforcement in recent months is forcing Russia to sell oil at a steeper discount to the international benchmark Brent crude. The discount has widened to about $19 per barrel over the past month, compared with $12 to $13 per barrel in October. “The price cap on Russian oil continues to serve its twin goals of limiting Kremlin profits while promoting stable energy markets… We are entering the next phase of increasing Russia’s costs in a responsible manner to mitigate risks,” Adeyemo added. The US on Friday announced its biggest single-day package of Russia sanctions since the invasion of Ukraine two years ago, blacklisting Sovcomflot together with more than 500 individuals and businesses. The EU and UK also announced a series of new sanctions last week. Fractal Shipping from the UAE and Turkey’s Beks Ship Management were among the high-profile shipping names included in the latest raft of sanctions unveiled by the UK while the headline-grabbing part of the EU’s latest sanctions was the decision to blacklist Chinese and Indian companies who have helped Russia get around EU export controls. googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1_95_0_1_2'); }); TagsRussia United States