Since 2021, there have been at least nine cases of Russian "shadow fleet" oil-carrying vessels leaving oil spills in global waters. However, there may be many more such incidents.
Politico writes about this with reference to a joint investigation with the non-profit journalistic group SourceMaterial, during which it was possible to obtain satellite images, as confirmed by cases of oil spills.
One of the largest spills was discovered in March about 100 kilometers from the coast of Scotland. The dark spot stretched 23 kilometers into the North Atlantic.
The Innova tanker, which was carrying 1 million barrels of sanctioned oil from Russia to a refinery in India, is believed to have caused the oil slick. Politico writes that the tanker is about the size of the Eiffel Tower.
Satellite images cannot determine whether the slick was definitely oil. But, according to marine engineer and general director of the shipping company DYNAMARINE Alexandros Glikas, such stains are often the result of the release of oil-water mixture sludge, which is formed during the operation of the vessel. The fact that the substance can be seen from space on satellite images also suggests that it was an oil spill.
However, the UK Coast Guard did not investigate further at the time, and the tanker was not held liable. A spokesman for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency said it had not found "sufficient evidence of a breach".
Ultimately, the Innovaʼs journey ended at the Vadinar refinery in India, which received 82 million barrels of oil from Russia last year alone, worth an estimated €5 billion. Then in July, Innova changed its name, executives and owner.
A case near Italy
On February 18, satellites spotted another spot 47 kilometers long off the coast of Italy, which coincides with the coordinates of another shadow fleet tanker, the Aruna Gulcay.
This Marshall Islands-flagged tanker was carrying ballast — the seawater that keeps the ship afloat — from the port of Ravenna in Italy to the southern Russian port of Novorossiysk. But it is unlikely that the release was ballast — seawater would not be visible from space. Most likely, it was another oil spill.
Likewise, the Italian Coast Guard did not inspect the vessel. Instead, a spokesman for the Italian maritime agency said it had contacted the nearest ships for information about the spill.
These tankers are just one of hundreds in the so-called shadow fleet of the Russian Federation. POLITICO and SourceMaterial have found leaks everywhere from Thailand to Vietnam to Italy to Mexico, all linked to the shadow fleet. Satellite images show that small accidents are already happening around the world, but are largely ignored.
Such vessels of the "Russian fleet" are often not insured, which means that in the event of a leak or a more serious spill, it will be difficult to prosecute them. Because "shadow fleet" tankers are often built 15 years ago or more, engineers classify them as "high risk". After all, this makes vessels more vulnerable to technical problems that can affect their handling, structural integrity and seaworthiness.
That is why these tankers avoid international supervision and regulation. And when ships turn off their transponders or transmit false location data, the risk of accidents and incidents only increases.
Tankers also travel through busy shipping corridors such as the Red Sea and the Panama Canal, meaning any major accident could disrupt international trade routes.
Also, due to the fact that the tankers of the "shadow fleet" sometimes transmit false data about the location, there are risks of collisions. For example, in July, a ship of the Russian shadow fleet collided with another tanker in the waters of Malaysia — then both vessels caught fire.
Spills also pose a "very serious problem" for local wildlife, said Stepan Boytsov, a marine pollution researcher at the Norwegian Institute of Marine Research. They can harm marine life, make consumer products such as shellfish toxic, and prevent fish from reproducing. At the same time, cleaning creates its own problems: the chemicals used can spread pollution.
Deliberate dumping of waste oil overboard is illegal under MARPOL, an international agreement that limits pollution from maritime transport, according to Sean Pribil, a maritime lawyer at Holland & Knight. Among the signatories of the treaty are many European countries, as well as Russia and Vietnam, the country where Innova was registered at the time and to whose laws it was accountable.
What preceded
At the beginning of December 2022, the members of the "Big Seven", as well as Australia and the EU, imposed price restrictions on Russian oil, setting a maximum level of $60 per barrel. From February 5, 2023, these countries introduced a price ceiling for Russian petroleum products: $100 for diesel fuel, $45 for various lubricants. To circumvent oil sanctions, Russia began to form a "shadow fleet".
In July, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced a crackdown on Russiaʼs so-called shadow fleet of oil tankers that help it evade sanctions. Then, under the leadership of Great Britain, 44 European countries and the European Union agreed to new sanctions.
At the same time, Prime Minister Starmerʼs Office noted that some of the ships of the shadow fleet are acting as Russian listening stations, while others are transporting weapons to Russia.
- Great Britain imposed sanctions against 11 vessels carrying Russian oil.
- In the 14th package of sanctions against Russia, which the EU adopted in June, sanctions were imposed against 27 ships of the "shadow fleet". Identical restrictions, in particular, were introduced by the USA and Switzerland.
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