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Some stranded Russian Sokol oil freights begin to move to China, India - data

Three tankers with Russian Sokol oil that had been stranded at sea due to payment problems and Western sanctions have started to move towards China and India, data from Kpler and LSEG revealed on Monday.

The stockpile of Sokol tankers has actually become the greatest disruptions to Russia's oil trade since the West imposed sanctions on Moscow over its military actions in Ukraine.

More than 10 million barrels of Sokol have actually been drifting in seaborne storage over the past 3 months due to payment difficulties and Western sanctions on shipping firms and vessels carrying the crude.

The three vessels - NS Century, NS Commander and Nellis - That had actually been sitting at sea given that November - have moved, according to the information and traders. Russian state oil significant Rosneft - the main exporter of the Sokol grade - did not react to queries on Sokol oil sales.

NS Century and Nellis are carrying a combined 2.2 million barrels of Sokol to Chinese ports, according to data analytics firm Kpler. Both tankers go through fresh U.S. sanctions for breaching a $60 per barrel rate cap on Russian oil.

Two trading sources informed the buyers were private Chinese refiners. The traders decreased to be named as the information is not public and did not call the purchasers.

China may be the service to the issue (with Sokol sales) as at least 2 tankers that have been idling since November began moving towards Chinese territorial waters, Viktor Katona, head of crude analysis at Kpler, said.

The Gabon-flagged tanker NS Commander, exempt to U.S. sanctions, with some 600,000 barrels of Sokol oil onboard was heading towards Jamnagar port in India, according to Kpler and LSEG information.

Some 7.5 million barrels of Sokol remained stuck at sea as of Monday, according to Kpler, down from over 10 million barrels two weeks previously.

(source: Reuters)