These two tankers, loaded with crude oil from the Russian Urals, have been parked off the west coast of India for more than three weeks with no sign that they will proceed with the discharge of their cargo in the near future.
Crude Centurion and Afragold: two oil tankers on standby
The Aframax vessel Crude Centurion arrived approximately 100 nautical miles from Sikka, its scheduled destination, on February 21. On the other hand, the vessel Afragold has been drifting nearby since February 29, having briefly signaled its intention to head for Mundra. Both tankers had been loaded with about 700,000 barrels of Urals crude oil at the port of Primorsk in Russia’s Baltic region during January.
The reason behind its prolonged inactivity remains a mystery, although there are growing indications that restrictions imposed by the West are beginning to affect the operations of the fleet of ships carrying Russian oil.
The establishment of U.S. sanctions affects the ships
After the United States stepped up sanctions against individuals and entities involved in the transportation of Russian crude oil, unusual behavior has been observed in the oil tankers in charge of . In recent months, several of these vessels have reportedly remained stationary in the Indian Ocean for extended periods before finally unloading in Indian ports or changing course to the Middle East.
Sokol crude has been particularly impacted by the tightness of these sanctions. At the beginning of the year, the situation reached a critical point when the volume of unloaded oil reached 18 million barrels, mainly due to the Indian refineries’ rejection of the quality of the product. However, this situation has begun to resolve, and most vessels are now heading for China after weeks of no offshore activity.
The Afragold vessel is managed by Universal Tanker Mgmt UTM-MAI, according to the registry of Equasis, an international maritime database. Attempts to contact the company through a telephone number listed in Malta were unsuccessful. However, the management of the vessel, Crude Centurion, falls to Athens-based Stealth Maritime Corp, where it was reported that no staff was available to comment due to a national holiday in Greece.
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Source: oilprice.com
Photo: Shutterstock
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