Three tankers carrying Russia Sokol oil that have been stranded due to Western sanctions have started heading towards China
, Reuters reported on Monday, citing tanker-tracking data from Kpler and LSEG. While Kpler calculated that 10 million barrels of Sokol oil were stranded in a holding pattern off the coast of South Korea two weeks ago, as of Monday, Kpler puts the volume at 7.5 million barrels. The stranded Sokol oil has been in a holding pattern in floating storage for three months as buyers cannot arrange payment in line with sanctions.
The third tanker is reportedly carrying around 600,000 barrels of Sokol and is heading towards an Indian port. The remaining 7.5 million barrels of stranded Sokol oil come from Russia’s Sakhalin-1 project, which produces an average of 220,000 bpd. Over a year ago, the U.S. initiated sanctions and a price cap on seaborne Russian crude oil in an attempt to restrict revenues to the Kremlin and thus hinder the funding of its continued war against Ukraine.