A hard blow to Russian oil exports, the US imposed sanctions on 183 ships and Gazprom Neft

The US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen announced the sanctions: “The United States has taken swift action against Russia’s key source of funding for its brutal and illegal war against Ukraine.” Since the beginning of the war, we have been focusing on disrupting the Kremlin’s income from the energy sector.” In this context, she recalled the ceiling on the price of exported Russian oil.

Most of the 183 ships on the list belong to the so-called shadow Russian fleets. These are old vessels registered in Panama, Barbados and Gabon, which Russia does not claim, but uses to circumvent sanctions. However, the list also includes 69 ships belonging to the Russian state company Sovcomflot – 54 tankers and four liquefied gas carriers. Some of these vessels exported not only Russian but also Iranian oil.

Sanctions were also imposed on the insurance companies Ingosstrach and Alfastrachovanije, which insured these ships and were already on the British sanctions list.

In the case of Gazprom Něft, 14 of its subsidiaries and six foreign companies in which Gazprom Něft has a stake were also on the sanction list. Most are in Central Asian countries, one in Serbia and one in Luxembourg. At Surgutněftěgas, six subsidiary companies selling primarily fuel for cars are also affected.

The British government also imposed sanctions on the two Russian giant oil companies at the same time. It is the first time that the USA and Britain have imposed sanctions directly on these two companies producing over a million barrels a day, which brings them 23 billion dollars in current prices.

British Foreign Secretary David Lammy warned: “Oil profits are the lifeblood of Putin’s war economy.”

The US Department of Finance also included two gas liquefaction projects on the sanctions list, one of which is Russian and the other is behind a third country supporting Russia. High representatives of Rosatom also appeared on the list.

Japan also announced new sanctions on Friday. It imposed them on 33 companies and 12 individuals, including North Koreans. At the same time, it announced that it will ban the export of 335 types of goods to Russia from January 23. Among them are small motorcycles and parts for special vehicles, such as cranes.