Tanker detained in Albania on suspicion of transporting Russian oil

On February 20, the Albanian National Police detained a Liberian-flagged tanker on suspicion of transporting oil from Russia to Albania in circumvention of EU and US sanctions. About it informed the country’s national police.

“As part of the coded police operation Embargo, a Liberian-flagged vessel was blocked carrying 22,500 tons of oil under forged documents, which was supposed to be smuggled into Albania,” the report said.

It is specified that the operation was developed on the basis of police intelligence data. According to preliminary information, the detained ship was transporting a batch of oil from those countries to which the embargo applies, “namely from Russia.” It is alleged that the tanker left Azerbaijan and was then loaded in the Greek port of Kalamata with oil from another vessel.

The national police added that the necessary documents for oil were not provided. In this regard, the police seized the shipping documentation, and 22 crew members were detained for investigation. The name of the tanker, the names of its owners are not specified.

The vessel was detained in the port of Durres on the Adriatic coast in the western part of Albania. It is considered the main seaport of the country and is located in the second largest city of the same name.

After the start of the special operation in Ukraine, the European Union and the United States imposed sanctions against the oil and gas sector of Russia. The EU imposed an embargo on offshore oil supplies from December 2022, at the same time a $60/bbl Russian oil price ceiling came into effect. Russian oil companies began to redirect oil supplies to the Asian market.

Since February 5, there has been a ban on offshore deliveries of petroleum products from Russia to the EU. At the same time, restrictions on export prices for expensive oil products from Russia (for example, diesel) at $100/bbl, and for cheaper ones (fuel oil) at $45/bbl, came into force.