Three tankers stranded at sea for months with cargoes of Russian Sokol crude have resumed their journeys.
Data from Kpler and LSEG showed the vessels — two of which are subject to Western sanctions — were once more heading towards China and India following payment problems.
The backlog of Sokol oil has become the biggest disruption to Russia’s crude trade, Reuters reported.
More than 10m barrels have been stored on vessels over the past three months.
Sanctioned Russian state shipowner Sovcomflot’s 105,700-dwt aframax duo NS Century and NS Commander (both built 2006), as well as the 306,400-dwt VLCC Nellis (built 2007), operated by Maritas Fleet of India, have been stuck for months.
The NS Century and the Nellis are transporting 2.2m barrels between them, according to analytics company Kpler.
Both tankers have been sanctioned in the US for breaching the $60 per barrel price cap on Russian oil.
Two trading sources told Reuters the buyers were private Chinese refiners.
“China might be the solution to the problem [with Sokol sales] as at least two tankers that have been idling since November started moving towards Chinese territorial waters,” said Viktor Katona, head of crude analysis at Kpler.
The NS Commander, which is not subject to US sanctions, is carrying 600,000 barrels towards Jamnagar port in northwest India, according to Kpler and LSEG.
Main Sokol exporter Rosneft has not commented.
TradeWinds reported last week that only five of the 27 tankers blacklisted for price cap breaches by the US since October have oil on board, and just two of those were underway.
Sovcomflot’s 115,900-dwt NS Leader (built 2007) performed an abrupt U-turn off the coast of Portugal last week while heading to the Baltic Sea port of Primorsk, hours after being blacklisted by the US.
