For much of the past three years, tankers carrying Russian crude oil - usually in violation of western embargo - skirted western sanctions and oversight by engaged in so-called Ship-to-Ship (STS) transfers somewhere in the open sea far from prying eyes and even further from hostile coast guard supervision.
The practice, usually carried out in secret with digital tracking beacons switched off or falsified, can help to obscure the origins of the oil, helping to beat sanctions. It also creates another layer of separation between the buyers and sellers of cargoes.
Of course, to keep STS as a viable option, the places where it takes place have to change periodically. And as Bloomberg reports, the secret switching of Russian fuel cargoes between tankers at sea has migrated to new hotspots off the coast of Greece after the European country used naval drills to try and block the activity in one location.
About 1 million barrels a month of diesel, fuel oil and other petroleum products has been getting flipped near the islands of Lesbos and Chios in the Aegean Sea, according to data from analytics firm Vortexa.
The area only became popular after Greece’s navy carried out drills around the Laconian Gulf, previously the No. 1 site for the practice in Europe.
A recent surge in ship-to-ship transfers involving Russian oil and fuel in and around Europe has raised environmental concerns because of question marks over the safety and insurance of the vessels involved. Not only that, but the fact that the activity has been soaring confirms that nobody takes the threat of western sanctions seriously any more.
Ship-to-ship switching is still happening close by the Laconian Gulf, but at a much-reduced rate since Greece’s naval drills began. The maneuvers left a narrow stretch of water unaffected and it’s in that location that they’re still taking place.
The transfers have also become regular off the Italian port of Augusta since May, when the Greek navy began its exercises. On November 14, the drills were extended until mid-March.
While the recent crackdown on Russian STS may have delayed the activity, it certainly won't stop it. And in any event, it pales in comparison to the unprecedented STS activity taking place 40 miles east off the Malaysian peninsula which is the "the world’s largest gathering point for dark fleet tankers"...
... and where millions of barrels Iranian oil are transferred to ships heading to China every day in violation of multiple western sanctions, keeping China's economy humming (see "The Clandestine Oil Shipping Hub Funneling Iranian Crude to China").
