Russian 'Shadow Fleet' Placed at 600: Trafigura

Russia’s ‘shadow fleet’ of tankers has grown to around 600 vessels according to Trafigura.

• About 400 crude vessels, or 20% of the global fleet, have “switched” from mainstream trades to “ostensibly do Russian business,” co-head of oil trading Ben Luckock said in an interview on Bloomberg tv.
• Trafigura sees the level at about 200 for oil product tankers, or 7% of the world total.
• “You had the old days of Iran and Venezuela, and there was a shadow fleet that was relatively small — it would manage the sanctioned barrels,” Luckock said. “This Russian flow is vastly different — it’s huge.”
• “There’s a lot of people talking about how they can be clever and get rid of Russian oil. But it is a vast volume that needs to find a new home,” Luckock said. “I think in the early days maybe that’s okay, but as time progresses there will be difficulties in the products markets.”
• “We are building a deep inefficiency into an oil market that has spent decades becoming incredibly efficient,” Luckock said. “This will get worse over time.”