The latest US sanctions on oil tankers hauling Russian petroleum look set to cause severe disruption across the nation’s export machine, with some of Moscow’s flows at risk of a near wipeout if history is any guide.
An analysis of the ships targeted by Washington suggests that nearly 1.5 million barrels a day of crude shipped from Pacific and Arctic ports could be heavily curtailed. More than one-third of those cargoes require specialized, purpose built tankers that will be hard to replace. Flows of the nation’s key Urals grade from ports in the Baltic and Black Sea look set to ...