New Sanctions to Test Russia’s Shadow Fleet Resilience

MOSCOW, Jan 13 (Reuters) – Sweeping U.S. sanctions on Russia’s oil industry will make it more expensive for Moscow to sell its oil and complicate sea-borne crude exports due to restrictions on tankers, analysts and traders said on Monday.

U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration unveiled the measures targeting Russia’s oil and gas revenues on Friday, in an effort to give Kyiv and Donald Trump’s incoming team leverage to reach a deal for peace in Ukraine.

The United States has until now been wary of spooking global oil markets and Russia has successfully evaded Western sanctions on its oil – such as the oil price cap imposed by the Group of Seven countries in 2022 – and selling vast volumes to China and India.

However, the new sanctions target traders, insurers and 183 vessels in the so-called shadow fleet which have allowed the world’s second largest oil exporter to get its oil to global markets.

Oil prices have climbed by about 6% since Jan. 8, surging on Friday after the latest sanctions were introduced. O/R

The Kremlin said that the sanctions risked destabilizing global markets, and Moscow would do everything possible to counter them…