Portal partners
Russia finds a new way to trade oil.
Author:Mariusz Dasiewicz
In the face of the threatening sanctions of Western Moscow, Russia has found a new way to bring its oil to the world market.
On July 24, a cargo of 700,000 barrels of Russian oil was delivered to the Egyptian oil terminal El Hamra on the Mediterranean coast. A few hours later another ship picked up a shipment of oil from the port – which may have included part or all of the Russian shipment – according to the tracking data of the ships monitored by Bloomberg.
The unusual movement makes it difficult to track the final destination of the cargo, which is in line with the trend of increasingly hiding Russian oil shipments since European buyers began to avoid it after the invasion of Ukraine.
El Hamra, managed by Egyptian Western Desert Operating Petroleum Co., has six storage tanks that can hold 1.5 million barrels of oil and a single mooring buoy for loading and unloading. The terminal was built to serve oil produced in the western desert of Egypt, which creates opportunities for mixing Russian barrels with local volumes.
The owner of the El Hamra terminal did not respond to repeated attempts to contact.
Transit route
Egypt is used by Russia as a transit route for fuel oil. It is not known whether El Hamra is a one-time case or a more common port for Russian oil.
Previously, tankers carrying Russian oil were transshipping from a ship to a ship near the Spanish city of Ceuta, and most recently in the Central Atlantic. It is an unusual location for such a complex operation, which usually takes place in sheltered areas near the shore.
Another transfer of raw cargo appears to have taken place in June off the coast of Johor, near Singapore. This area has recently become a cargo handling site for Iranian oil headed for China.
The European Union's ban on oil transport from Moscow and on the provision of insurance and other shipping services is due to enter into force this year, which increases the pressure on Russia to identify and test various ways to deliver its cargo to buyers.
Source: Bloomberg
