Frontline Seeing Tankers Move Out of Russian Trade  After G7 Cap Breached

Frontline, one of the largest oil tanker owners said it is seeing its rivals move away from Russian trade after Urals moved above the G7 price cap in mid-July.

• “Recently we have observed that owners who previously operated in the Russian freight market have chosen to abandon this trade, increasing the supply of vessels into the non-Russian trading fleet,” the tanker firm said in a statement.
• “The Russian owned and controlled fleet has grown significantly over the last year, but additional capacity has been needed to service the full volume due to the inefficiency of the trade.” the statement added suggesting that the Russian fleet will struggle without western backed vessels servicing the trade.
• Vortexa said that is had noted a significant drop off in Greek tonnage operating in Russian oil trade after the price cap was breached but a large portion is moving into new ownership entities to continue in the trade – albeit unlikely to be backed by western insurance.