Reference News Network, December 14 report: According to the Bloomberg News website on December 12, a "Cold War" is rising over sanctioned oil. Recent drone attacks and forced boarding actions have significantly increased the risk factor of transporting such oil.
This Wednesday, the United States seized a tanker carrying up to 2 million barrels of Venezuelan oil. Not long before that, several oil tankers related to Russia exploded and became paralyzed. Both sets of incidents have impacted the global oil supply pattern.
Five years ago, the global shipping process of transporting oil from producing countries to refineries and then to consumers was a mundane business. But times have changed.
Under multiple rounds of sanctions, over a thousand ships have been placed on the blacklist by Western governments for participating in oil trade with Iran, Russia, Venezuela, and North Korea. These vessels vary in type, ranging from small coastal tankers with limited capacity to ultra-large tankers capable of transoceanic transport.
The majority of them belong to the "shadow fleet," a fleet specifically established by sanctioned countries to maintain their oil transportation channels. Now, these ships are becoming targets of more radical actions.
Since late November, five oil tankers related to Russia have either been attacked by Ukrainian maritime drones or suffered unexplained explosion accidents.
The Ukrainian side has claimed responsibility for three of the drone attacks. These attacks were clearly well-planned: the attacked ships were all empty at the time and heading toward a Russian port; the drones precisely hit the stern of the ships, damaging the engine room rather than the oil storage tanks.
In the other end of the Atlantic, the U.S. government deployed an airborne special forces unit to forcibly board and seize a tanker loaded with Venezuelan oil.
In fact, President Trump is not unfamiliar with such actions. During his previous term, the U.S. had intercepted four tankers carrying Iranian gasoline, which were planned to be transported to Venezuela, and all the cargo was confiscated and later sold in the U.S. Despite this, this incident still marks an escalation of the Trump administration's pressure on Venezuela.
If tankers become targets that can be arbitrarily attacked or seized, the global oil market may suffer a significant impact.
If the U.S. strictly enforces the relevant sanctions, Venezuela's daily oil export volume of about 300,000 barrels (30% of its total exports) could face a disruption risk. For Russia, if the Black Sea oil transportation route is blocked, daily oil exports could decrease by 700,000 barrels, accounting for 20% of its total seaborne oil exports.
At present, the situation has not yet reached such a severe level, and the market's reaction to recent events has been relatively calm. However, the latest escalation of the situation may increase concerns among some shipowners about transporting sanctioned oil and raise the shipping costs of such oil. (Translated by Zhu Li)
Original: toutiao.com/article/7583620474870039076/
Statement: This article represents the personal views of the author.