Freight rates for Russian ESPO Blend oil loading from the Far Eastern port of Kozmino have jumped fivefold amid a lack of vessels after fresh U.S. sanctions cut availability of tankers, three traders said and data showed.

As TradeWinds has reported, a broad basket of tanker stocks gained as much as 20% in the waning days of former President Joe Biden’s administration as the US toughened sanctions activity, effectively blacklisting China’s Cosco and designating 183 vessels serving the Russia trade.

A national parks employee in Ukraine’s southern Odesa region discovered oil washed up on the coastline, saying that it was likely linked to last month’s oil spill in the Black Sea. Ivan Rusev, the employee who reported the find,

The United States has clarified to India that tankers loaded with Russian oil have to discharge by Feb. 27 under the latest sanctions targeting Moscow's oil revenue, India's oil secretary Pankaj Jain told reporters at an event.

The recent implementation of new US sanctions targeting Russian oil producers, tankers, and insurers has created a disruption in the supply chain. Middlemen who were previously involved in supplying Russian oil to Indian refiners,