For trading in oil, Russia uses one-day companies and an emergency fleet from scrap-expert

After the Russian invasion, the volume of oil transshipment with a shadow fleet, according to Vortexa, increased more than twice, and this growth was provided by additional transshipment of Russian oil. This was announced by energy expert at the Ukrainian Institute of the Future Andrian Prokip.

He recalled that it was this export that, with the help of a shadow fleet, has significantly allowed to bypass Western sanctions and maintain income from oil exports that were and leave the main item of Russian exports. And it is these income that help finance the war against Ukraine. "The shadow fleet allowed the aggressor to create a system of parallel navigation with hundreds of opaque tankers.

These can be either Russian ships or vessels owned Because of the technical condition, oil spills could be made. Only a relatively small part of the current Russian shadow fleet was sent to scrap. He stressed that in 2023, small unknown trade firms were replaced by large trading companies and trade houses that comply with international sanctions without experience in this business. These small companies export most of Russian oil to Asia and then quickly close the business.

That is, the scheme of one-day companies, which was so popular in the 1990s, including in the Russian economy. "In some cases, vessels are rewritten to fry companies in other countries, change the names and flags under which they walk, pour oil from the vessel to the vessel, and even turn off AIS transmitters (a system that serves to identify vessels, their dimensions, course and other data Using radio waves).

The vessels of the shadow fleet also use fake numbers (International Maritime Organization - International Maritime Organization). This complicates tanker tracking, as the controlling bodies do not always control the numbers, because this problem is relatively new, and therefore there are regulatory gaps in many countries, which allows the use of a corresponding loophole with fraud on numbers. "The origin of many tankers carrying Russian oil is unknown.

The essence of the strategy is that before the vessel reaches its destination, the load goes from hand to hand, which complicates its tracking. However, even if the violation of sanctions by companies or tankers is detected , companies disappear, and the tankers are rewritten to new ones, which allows to continue commercial operations to the "new" owner, " - explains the scheme expert. According to him, it is not enough to counteract the supply of oil with a shadow fleet.