Russian Oil Delivery Takes Seven Times Longer After Sanctions

By Julian Lee (Bloomberg) —

The delivery of a two-million-barrel cargo of Russian oil to China took seven times longer than it would have done prior to a round of US sanctions imposed on Moscow back in January.

The drawn out delivery of Sokol crude from Russia’s Sakhalin 1 project into Chinese storage tanks shows how US sanctions continue to disrupt and impede — but importantly not halt —  the flow of Russian oil.

The Daban, a so-called Very Large Crude Carrier, is discharging its cargo at Huangdao port in China more than seven weeks after the oil was first loaded onto shuttle tankers, vessel tracking data compiled by Bloomberg show. It would normally take about a week.

The Daban received its cargo via three ship-to-ship transfers from smaller vessels in the sheltered waters of Nakhodka Bay off Russia’s Pacific coast during the first 10 days of February.

Digital signals from the Daban indicate that, after receiving the consignments, it was unable to dock at two other Chinese ports before going to Huangdao.

The market is watching how Russian oil gets delivered closely because sanctions by the outgoing Biden administration were more aggressive than any that went before. The early signs are that exports are being maintained, but there’s been disruption and delay of some deliveries.

In the Baltic Sea, another tanker has been waiting for about a month having loaded a cargo. That’s a fairly unusual — but not unique — turn of events. 

Ten Days The Daban spent 10 days anchored off the port of Yantai before heading along the coast to Rizhao at the end of February. After spending a further 10 days there, it moved to Huangdao, where it moored on Thursday.

The oil was carried to the