Washington has blacklisted 14 Russian oil tankers as part of the U.S. efforts to enforce a price cap on crude oil imposed by the West on Russia in response to the war in Ukraine. The U.S. Treasury Department has sanctioned the state-owned shipping company "Sovcomflot" and stated that it has granted a 45-day grace period for the 14 tankers to unload their oil and other cargoes before the decision takes effect. Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo noted in a statement that "today, we are taking the next step by targeting the largest state-owned shipping company and operator of the largest fleet of vessels in Russia," emphasizing that "this step is a significant blow to Russia's shadow operations."
Previously, a coalition including the Group of Seven major economies, the European Union, and Australia set the price cap for Russian crude oil at $60 per barrel. A senior Treasury official stated on Friday that "the Kremlin has sought to circumvent the cap by investing in a 'shadow fleet' of infrastructure for trading in the energy market." Thus, Washington aims to intensify enforcement measures while "increasing the costs that Russia incurs for using this shadow fleet to transport oil outside of the price cap," according to the official who requested anonymity. This new measure comes on the eve of the second anniversary of what Russia refers to as its "military operations" in Ukraine.
