Analysts report that the tanker Wendrix, carrying 200,000 barrels of gasoline, is en route from Mersin, Turkey, to Russia. The ship is expected to arrive this week. On August 21, the vessel was spotted off the coast of Latvia. According to Marine Traffic, the unloading port for Wendrix is Vysotsk in the Leningrad region of Russia, where Lukoil has established an oil terminal.
The Wendrix, formerly known as Jasper, is currently under sanctions from the EU, the UK, Canada, Ukraine, and Switzerland for transporting Russian oil in violation of restrictions.
This transaction marks the first documented instance of the aggressor nation purchasing gasoline from Turkey, a country that previously sold fuel to Russia for years, analysts note. Since late July, total imports of petroleum products to Russia have reached approximately 1 million barrels.
In August, Russia received three shipments of fuel, loaded at the Indian Vadinar terminal after being transshipped from one vessel to another off the coast of Egypt. Another shipment was delivered from Morocco, though the origin of the gasoline remains unclear, as the only refinery in Morocco ceased operations in 2015.
Context
- The fuel market in Russia has faced shortages due to Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil refineries and depots. According to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as of early July, Ukrainian strikes had incapacitated approximately 42.74% of the total planned refining capacity of the aggressor state, Russia.
- On August 3, Bloomberg reported that Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries had forced Russia to cut crude oil processing by about 20%, reaching the lowest level since May 2002. This has led Russian producers to ramp up crude oil exports to nearly record levels.
