The Aegean Sea has emerged as a new site for ship-to-ship (STS) transfers of Russian diesel and gasoil cargoes, as the country’s oil product exports rose in July despite sanctions.

Gasoil and diesel cargoes were loaded on at least seven vessels in Russia’s Black Sea ports of Taman and Tuapse in July and August for transshipment to other vessels in the northern Aegean, according to Reuters, which cited data from LSEG and other market sources.

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Waters off Greece’s Laconian Gulf, Malta and Egypt’s Port Said had previously been major sites for STS transfers.

The newswire reported that LSEG data showed four tankers carrying 123,000 tonnes of diesel and gasoil from Taman and Tuapse were transshipped off the Greek Island of Chios in July.

A further 100,000 tonnes of gasoil loaded on three tankers at Tuapse in July were also headed to the northern Aegean for transshipment, Reuters reported.

The move to the Aegean Sea comes as data from Finland’s Centre for Research on Clean Energy & Clean Air shows STS transfers declined in European waters in July.

Some €674m ($739m) worth of Russian crude and oil products was transferred in European Union waters in July, with 65% facilitated by tankers covered by insurance from countries in the G7+ coalition of countries.

That is down from €735m in June.

But the centre reported that Russia saw a 3% rise in revenue from exports of oil products, which reached €219m per day.

The Helsinki think tank said that came amid a 5% decline in seaborne crude revenue, which also reached €219m per day in July.

That contributed to a 4% drop in total fossil fuel export revenue to €656m per day.

The centre said 36% of Russia’s seaborne crude and oil products were hauled by tankers owned or insured in countries that are part of the international coalition to impose a price cap on Russian exports.

The EU has imposed 14 packages of sanctions against Russia since it invaded Ukraine in 2022.

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