The UK has blacklisted Dubai-based tanker specialist Fractal Marine in a new round of sanctions targeting Russian war revenues.

Fractal was the only European start-up to join the lucrative market for hauling price-capped Russian oil and insisted that it operated within the sanctions regime.

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But the British government included Fractal as one of more than 50 individuals and companies targeted in a round of measures on Thursday to mark the second anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine.

It is cited along with two Turkish shipping companies for operating “in the Russian energy sector as part of Putin’s shadow fleet”.

The UK sanctions list says Fractal is “involved in obtaining a benefit from or supporting the Government of Russia by carrying on business in a sector of strategic significance to the Government of Russia, namely the Russian energy sector”.

Announcing the move, foreign secretary David Cameron said: “Our international economic pressure means Russia cannot afford this illegal invasion.

“Our sanctions are starving Putin of the resources he desperately needs to fund his struggling war.”

The listing marks a significant acceleration in the UK’s sanctions programme: Fractal is the first substantial European player to be hit by any of the G7 regulators.

Fractal operates more openly than other companies that are involved in hauling Russian crude and says it has operated within the price cap regime introduced in December 2022.

The ‘right side’

CEO Mathieu Philippe, a French-British dual national, strongly defended his company’s record in an interview with TradeWinds and insisted it was “on the right side”.

He said he visited Washington DC in November and was expecting to go there again this month to meet regulators to discuss the company’s operations.

“For us, it has to be legal, it has to be within the parameters, or the sanctions, set by the countries that some of the team come from,” he said last month.

“We have a number of nationalities and some of them are Europeans … we definitely don’t want to go against the interests of our own countries.”

The G7 introduced the price cap to keep global oil flowing but to limit revenues flowing back to Moscow.

G7-linked and EU operators can haul Russian oil only if it is sold below $60 a barrel for crude and $100 and $45 for refined oils.

Critics claim that the scheme has been widely flouted, and the EU introduced changes this week aimed at tightening the rules, including putting greater onus on shipowners and insurers to gather documents on pricing data.

Fractal has been contacted for comment.

Also sanctioned was fast-expanding Istanbul-based Beks Ship Management, which is listed by VesselsValue as the operator of 44 ships, including 28 tankers, with a market value of $925m.

The tanker fleet of the Ali Bekmezci-led firm was built from scratch on the secondhand market from June 2021. Nobody was immediately available at the company for comment.

A second Turkish company, Active Denizcilik, was also blacklisted by the UK. The company, controlled by Turkish industrialist Ali Umur, is listed by Equasis as the manager of 17 ships, including 13 tankers.

British officials said the package is part of wider efforts to clamp down on repeated attempts to evade Western sanctions.

“We are preparing to bolster our existing powers to target malign Russian shipping activity and individual ‘shadow fleet’ vessels used by Russia to soften the blow of oil-related sanctions imposed by the UK alongside G7 partners,” said the Foreign Office.

“This week new measures to strengthen the existing oil price cap also came into force and we have expanded the list of items critical to Russia’s war machine that we are seeking to prevent getting to Russia.”

The sanctions impose an asset freeze on property owned or controlled by the sanctioned entity, restrictions on services that can be provided, and travel bans.

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