Russia's Sovcomflot Facing Pressure of Increased US Sanctions

US sanctions against Sovcomflot, its fleet and subsidiaries are putting pressure on the Russian company’s operations, the shipping giant said in its financial report Monday.

• Sovcomflot is taking steps “to overcome the challenges and continues to operate its fleet as normal” it said.
• Its sanctioned vessels have been reported by vessel tracking agencies to be bringing Sokol barrels to China ports and pulling volumes away from Indian buyers seemingly dissuaded by the recent sanctions ratcheting.
• “The Russian-flagged tanker, operated by Sovcomflot's, Dubai subsidiary SCF MGMT, is carrying about 700,000 barrels of Russian Sokol crude. It is the fourth U.S.-sanctioned tanker to dock at Chinese ports this month to clear a backlog of Russian Sokol crude stored on ships.” TradeWinds reported last week.
• Amos Hochstein, Biden's energy and global infrastructure adviser, told Reuters last week. "At the end of the day, my goal is not to take it off the market, I'm not looking to take these tankers, take the crude, the product, off the market,"
• "I'm trying to get the Indians to negotiate better prices by forcing the tankers into a different direction. I think the Indians understand what we're trying to do," Hochstein said.
• Volumes of Russian Sokol into China this month are expected to triple from a month earlier to an all-time high of 379,000bpd according to earlier Kpler numbers. Overall Russian crude imports into China are also expected at a record of 1.7mn bpd this month.