For over two decades, the Sowkomfłot sailed under the Liberia flag, but after the company's ships began to be placed on the US sanction lists in 2023, He had to look for new jurisdictionas the analytical of the shipping Michelle Wies Bockmann notes.
Initially, the choice fell on Gabon, who wanted to take the opportunity and use the “shadow fleet” transporting Russian oil to circumvent the sanctions. But After diplomatic pressure, Gabon removed his flags from the Sowkomfłot tankerand the company had to register them on Barbados.
But even there, ships did not last long: due to the sanctions of Great Britain, which is used by Barbados, The authorities of this country canceled the registration of the Sowkomfłot tankers And he had to look for the fourth flag.
Three of the tankers – Mirabel, Primavera and Carma – received the home port in Oman in 2025, according to Bockmann. Changing the flag to Omana coincided with the visit of the Oman Sultan Haysama Bin Tarika Al Saida in Russia on April 22. According to Bockmann, tankers are rarely registered in Oman. Equasis data show that out of 129 ships under his flag, only three are tankers, and they are all owned by the Sowkomfłot. In addition to Oman, Russian ships received new flags on the chambers, the islands of Saint Tomasz and Książęca and in Sierra Leone.
The Sowkomfłot was placed on the sanction letters of the USA, the EU and Great Britain as early as 2022, and in last year dozens of his tankers, which carried oil to circumvent western restrictions, were covered by sanctions. In January, “farewell” administration means Joe Biden affected 69 Sowkomfłot ships, including 54 tankers for oil and petroleum products and four gas. In February, the subsidiary of the Sowkomfłot OOO SCF Arktika and 74 tankers associated with the Russian “Shadow” fleet were covered by European sanctions.
