Wider US sanctions on Russian-trading tankers have drawn more veteran vessels into the business for the first time.
UK shipbroker Braemar has identified 10 vessels loading Russian oil that have never been involved in the trade before.
Of the elderly tankers making their debut since the US blacklisted 183 more ships earlier this month, eight have loaded Russian barrels in the Baltic Sea.
One more lifted a cargo in the Black Sea, while another loaded in Asia.
Braemar said that last year the ships had been operating in compliant trades in the Middle East Gulf, the Mediterranean and India.
Braemar calculated their average age at 21.5 years. They are believed to be commanding higher rates for Russian shipments.
Freight costs for liftings along the Russian east coast have more than trebled to $7.5m since the expanded sanctions were announced.
India’s crude imports from Russia come mostly from the Baltic and the Black Sea, while China’s originate mainly from Asian terminals.
Around 30% of India’s imports from Russia in December — 475,000 barrels per day — arrived on tankers sanctioned by the US on 10 January, Braemar calculated.
For exports from Russia’s Far East ports, 71% was on newly sanctioned ships last month, but that has dropped to 38% since 10 January, when the US unveiled the new designations.
“To maintain export levels in the Far East, Russian exporters are so far relying on tankers with a history of transporting Russian oil. That includes some that previously operated in the West but are now being moved to Asia,” Braemar said.
The London shop tracked 10 tankers sanctioned by the US this month that have subsequently loaded crude at Russian ports.
Three lifted cargoes at Murmansk in the north-west, while the rest loaded called at ports in the Far East.
One of them, Sovcomflot’s 105,000-dwt aframax Zaliv Baikal (built 2009), has already discharged its Sakhalin blend crude at Lianyungang, China.
Six more of the ships were heading to China over the weekend.
Lianyungang gets busier
The Murmansk tankers are either remaining within Russia or travelling southward from the North Sea.
Flows of Russian crude and products to Lianyungang, in Jiangsu province, have jumped since the 10 January sanctions and the announcement by Shandong Port Group on 7 January that it would ban US-sanctioned vessels from its ports.
Russian crude imports into Lianyungang have risen from around 56,000 bpd in December to almost 160,000 bpd as of 22 January, Braemar said.
Lianyungang neighbours Shandong, the centre of China’s independent refining sector and the main entry point for Iranian, Russian and Venezuelan crude.
Imports from Russia, Venezuela and Iran were almost one-fifth of China’s total oil imports last year. Shandong accounted for more than 60% of them.
