There may be attempts to circumvent the price ceiling for Russian oil when exporting through the Eastern Siberia-Pacific Ocean oil pipeline or ports in the Far East, for example, Kozmino. The Office for Foreign Assets Control of the US Treasury warned US residents about this, RBC reports.
The department noted that when exporting Russian oil at a price above the ceiling, US citizens could serve it without knowing about it due to fraudulent practices used by citizens of third countries. OFAC alleges that the crews of some tankers are manipulating AIS (Automatic Ship Identification System) data by using spoofing (spoofing the ship’s GPS data) to hide that they called at Kozmino or other ports in the Russian Far East.
“Basic ship tracking data may show the tanker in one place, but more sophisticated reports from maritime intelligence services may indicate that the ship called at the port of Kozmino,” the department explained, they also noted that this method can be used when transferring cargo from one ship to another.
OFAC has warned traders that non-transparency in the cost of shipping Russian oil could be a way around the price ceiling. The Office notes that in the guidance on the application of the “price cap”, the costs of freight, customs clearance and insurance are not included in the price cap.
OFAC noted that the failure to account for these costs could be used to hide the fact that Russian oil was purchased above the cap price.
Recall that the price ceiling for oil from Russia is valid from December 5, 2022. It is set at $60. Also, from December 5, the European embargo on the supply of Russian crude oil by sea began to work, from February 5, an embargo on Russian oil products was introduced: $ 100 per barrel for those traded at a premium to crude oil, and $ 45 per barrel for those sold with discount.
Moscow has repeatedly stated that it considers restrictions on the sale of Russian oil by Western countries illegal.
Source: Rosbalt
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