Denmark, other Baltic Sea countries, and allies from the European Union are considering ways to limit the volume of Russian oil transported on the so-called dark fleet in the Baltic Sea and the Danish straits, Denmark's Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen told Reuters on Monday.
Apart from looking to clamp down on Russian shadow fleet activities and Putin's revenues from oil, Denmark has been concerned that the old and potentially uninsured tankers of the growing dark fleet could cause an environmental disaster in its waters through which Russia's oil from its Baltic Sea ports passes en route to the Atlantic.
"There is broad consensus that the shadow fleet is an international problem and that international solutions are required," Lokke Rasmussen told Reuters in an email, without giving details about what the measures under consideration are. [if !supportLineBreakNewLine] [endif]
"It's important that any new measures can be implemented in practice and that they are legally sound with regards to international law," the Danish foreign minister added.
This weekend, Danish investigative journalism media Danwatch reported a new analysis that had found that every other tanker from Russia that is crossing the Great Belt, the largest Danish strait, carries sanctioned oil and doesn't live up to industry standards about ownership, valid insurance, or safety.
A report from Allianz SE highlighted last month the serious environmental and safety risks posed by the burgeoning "shadow fleet" of oil tankers carrying sanctioned Russian crude. Over the past three years, as international sanctions on Russian crude and refined product exports have tightened due to its invasion of Ukraine, a significant number of older, under-regulated vessels have emerged to maintain the flow of these exports. These tankers, often operating without proper insurance and outside international regulatory frameworks, present substantial hazards in key maritime chokepoints.
In Asian waters, Russian tankers are attempting to circumvent U.S. sanctions by surreptitiously transferring their oil cargo to other vessels.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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Tsvetana is a writer for Oilprice.com with over a decade of experience writing for news outlets such as iNVEZZ and SeeNews. More
Comments
As long as the dark fleet tankers carrying Russian crude aren't leaking and are in international waters, trying to stop them or intercept them is illegal. If Danish and NATO ships tried to intercept them in international waters, they risk a military confrontation with Russia.
May be this is their ultimate objective of provoking Russia into a military confrontation.
Dr Mamdouh G Salameh
International Oil Economist
Global Energy Expert