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United States enforces sanctions on Russia's leading tanker group Sovcomflot

The U.S. has imposed sanctions on Russia's leading tanker group Sovcomflot as Washington looks for to reduce Russia's revenues from oil sales it can utilize to support the invasion of Ukraine, the Treasury Department said on Friday.

Russia is among he world's leading oil exporters and the sanctions were the latest in an effort by Western nations to include expenses on the shipping of its petroleum and oil products while keeping the petroleum flowing to international markets.

The Treasury's Office of Foreign Asset Control designated 14 petroleum tankers vessels as property in which Sovcomflot has an interest.

OFAC issued basic licenses allowing the offloading of petroleum, or other freights, from the 14 vessels for 45 days, and enabling transactions with all other Sovcomflot tankers.

Sovcomflot as an entire, as a moms and dad company, has been linked in cost cap violations in addition to misleading activity, a senior Treasury authorities told press reporters in a call.

The sanctions freeze any U.S. assets of those targeted and usually bars Americans from dealing with them.

The G7, the EU and Australia imposed a $60 per barrel

price cap on Russian oil

in late 2022. It prohibits making use of Western maritime services such as transport, insurance and funding for deliveries of oil priced at or above the cap.

The designations today are essentially intended to take a few of their vehicles for doing that off the table, which is going to force them to invest more in spending, in producing brand-new avenues for getting that oil out, the Treasury official said.

The Western sanctions and the cap have actually required a few of Russian oil sales to depend on a so-called shadow fleet of aging tankers that ship customers like India and China, much even more than its standard consumers in Europe. Treasury officials say those expenditures minimize Moscow's incomes that it can utilize for war.

The U.S. would not disclose what the specific infractions Sovcomflot was implicated of, the senior official stated.

The official, nevertheless, added that the authority used for these sanctions relates to operating in the Russian maritime sector, reflecting the business's work outside the price cap coalition.

Previously on Friday, Washington enforced wide-ranging sanctions against Russia, targeting more than 500 individuals and entities to mark the 2nd anniversary of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine and strike back for the death of Alexei Navalny, the Russian opposition leader.

The Treasury began enforcing the cost cap in October, and before Friday had approved 27 tankers for violating the price cap. A number of those tankers have been anchored off ports because being sanctioned, shipping information has actually shown.

Treasury stated that the increased sanctions enforcement in current months is requiring Russia to offer oil at a steeper discount rate to the international standard Brent crude, restricting Russia's earnings. The discount has actually widened to about $19 per barrel over the past month compared to $12 to $13 a barrel in October, it stated.

(source: Reuters)