G7 Price Cap Makes Shipping Russian Oil Too Risky: BW Group

There’s “too much risk” carrying Russian oil because of the need to comply with the G7 price cap according to tanker operator BW Group.

• It’s impossible to know whether to trust traders when they pledge a cargo is purchased below the 60$/bbl cap, said Andreas Sohmen-Pao. Shipowners are required to get a document from a charterer pledging a cargo was sold below the cap but it’s extremely rare to know the true value.
• “Now you have the additional complexity of trying to determine whether the oil, if you’re carrying it, is below the price cap,” Sohmen-Pao said. “Because, you know, whose word is correct? What is the real price?”
• BW Group had also struggled to get insurance to carry Russian oil, so it stopped carrying barrels from Russia shortly after the invasion of Ukraine.
• BW Group has almost 500 vessels from product tankers to VLCCs.