Sanctions by the US and its Western allies have made the movements of Russian oil tankers “more mysterious” in the Atlantic.
Over the past 10 days, at least three tankers have disappeared from maritime tracking systems as they reached the Azores, a small island about 1,500 kilometers west of mainland Portugal. According to Bloomberg, these ships can transfer goods to other ships. Such a transfer did not occur before Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine, resulting in satellites not being adapted to monitor this activity.
At present, no one knows why these ships turned off navigation. One of the speculations concerns buyers, who don’t want their deals to be scrutinized. In fact, the European Union (EU) has already issued a ban on Russian oil imports, but it will only come into full force in December.
The sea is one of the most popular routes for oil. Over the years, Russia has shipped its cargo off the coast of Denmark and more recently the Mediterranean. However, the phenomenon of turning off navigation does not happen often with Russian ships, but is used more often by Iran and Venezuela after the US and the West imposed sanctions.
According to Bloomberg, to perform this task, the ships will move side by side and the tankers will pump oil to larger vessels. These large ships will then transport goods around the world before moving into refineries to create fuel.
The conflict with Ukraine has made Russian oil unpopular, at least publicly. However, in the first 100 days since Russia launched the special military operation, Moscow has collected $ 98 billion. This is considered an “incredible” number, especially when Russia is affected by many Western sanctions.
According to the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), Europe receives 61% of Russia’s total fossil fuels. Global oil prices are also skyrocketing, leading to Russia continuing to benefit from this source of “black gold”.
Meanwhile, replacing Russian fuel is not an easy and quick solution. Russian oil is also not because of that. Billion-dollar economies like India and China were quick to seize the opportunity from cheap Russian oil, bringing them economic benefits in the context of consecutive oil prices above $100 a barrel. .
Russia is also increasing oil sales to Asia and sees this as a potential market to redirect in case Europe successfully “detoxifies” its energy resources. However, saying no to Russian energy could cause prices in Europe to skyrocket, even leaving many countries short of oil for other activities.
A report by the International Energy Agency (IEA) said coal mining investment increased by 10% in 2021 compared to 2020 and will continue to maintain this growth this year. That shows that the world is increasingly dependent on this fuel, which is described as very “dirty”. Burning coal produces more emissions than all other fuels
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