It's perhaps not the most surprising thing in the world that, facing major sanctions for its invasion of Ukraine, Russia has decided to, you know, try and avoid them:
Since Russia invaded Ukraine, many Western oil companies as well as traders, shippers, and bankers have stayed away from Russian oil. But a new report by CNN indicates Russian crude may be seeing a resurgence in demand—in relative secret.
Russian tankers transporting oil and petroleum products have been disappearing from tracking systems. Dark activity, or when a ships' transponders are turned off for at least a couple of hours, is up 600% compared to before the Ukraine War began, maritime risk management company Windward told CNN.
Okay we can all admit it: When we hear that Russian tankers are "disappearing from tracking systems," we picture it like:
I guess it's not all that exciting, though. They just turn their communications off:
"We're seeing a spike in Russian tankers turning off transmissions deliberately to circumvent sanctions," Windward CEO Ami Daniel said in an interview with CNN, referring to oil import sanctions imposed by the U.S., U.K. and other countries. "The Russian fleet is starting to hide its whereabouts and its exports," he added.
Still crazy, though. I for one would like to know where all that oil is going (asking for a friend!).
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