(Jan 13): Three tankers carrying more than two million barrels of Russian oil are floating in waters off eastern China, after they were sanctioned by the US last Friday, according to ship-tracking data.

The Huihai Pacific was due to arrive at Dongjiakou in the Shandong province on Jan 15, after loading nearly 770,000 barrels of ESPO crude from the Russian Pacific port of Kozmino earlier in the month, according to data intelligence firm Kpler. However, it changed course over the weekend, and is now parked offshore and laden with oil.

The ship, alongside many others, was swept up in the most aggressive package of measures targeting Russian oil exports since the invasion of Ukraine in early 2022. Several tankers and at least one trader active in the trade of ESPO, a grade that’s favoured by China’s independent refiners, or teapots, were sanctioned.

The Mermar left Kozmino on Jan 5 with more than 755,000 barrels of ESPO, and was scheduled to call at the Yantai port this week, but is now waiting off the coast, the Kpler data showed. The Olia departed the Russian port on Jan 7 with nearly 709,000 barrels of the grade, and was also bound for Yantai, but is now sitting in the Yellow Sea. 

Washington’s move comes just days after the Shandong Port Group Co, which runs several ports in the province, urged terminals to stop allowing sanctioned oil tankers to dock or offload cargo.

Uploaded by Tham Yek Lee