Russia appears to have found a new way to get its oil onto the market to circumvent sanctions — it mixes it with Egyptian oil, making it harder to trace the origin of the raw material.
This is reported by Bloomberg.
Thus, on July 24, a cargo of about 700 000 barrels of Russian oil was delivered to the Egyptian oil terminal "El-Hamra". Within a few hours, the ship Chris picked up the shipment from the port. The shipment could contain part or all of the cargo of Russian oil. When the Chris left Al Hamra on July 28, its cargo tanks were nearly full. It is currently moored at the Ras Shukhair oil terminal on the Red Sea coast in Egypt. Due to the possible mix-up, it is difficult to track the final destination of the cargo. The trend to hide Russian oil shipments is intensifying as European buyers began to avoid it after the invasion of Ukraine.
Al Hamra Oil Terminal has six storage tanks capable of holding 1.5 million barrels of crude oil and one mooring buoy for loading and unloading. The terminal was built for transshipment of crude oil produced in the western desert of Egypt.
Russia already uses Egypt as a transit route for fuel oil. In the past, tankers carrying Russian oil have transferred cargo from ship to ship near the Spanish city of Ceuta in North Africa, and more recently in the central part of the Atlantic Ocean. This is an unusual location for such a complex operation, which is usually carried out in sheltered coastal locations.
- During the G7 summit, the United States and its allies discussed ways to reduce the price of Russian oil on the world market. They want to see it at the level of $40-60 per barrel, which will seriously affect Russian revenues.
- Because of the war, the USA and the EU gave up Russian fuel, but gradually. The EU allocated half a year to abandon oil, and up to eight months to abandon petroleum products. Oil deliveries via pipelines have not been sanctioned.