Russian oil still remains highly reliant on vessels insured in the UK for transport, according to a new study.
The Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) analysis has found that the UK, the largest insurer of seaborne Russian oil globally, insured ships that transported Russian oil worth €120.6bn from March 2022, just after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, until the end of November 2023.
The key findings of the CREA research are that €46.4 bn of Russian oil has been transported on tankers using UK protection and indemnity (P&I) insurance in the 12 months since the oil price car, and that 33% of all Russian oil (by volume) was transported on tankers insured in the UK since the sanctions were implemented until early November 2023.
As it is furthermore highlighted, a majority of the Russian oil carried by tankers insured in the UK was crude oil (31% worth €14.4bn), followed by diesel (22% worth €10.3 bn).
One of the conclusions of CREA is that Russian oil still remains highly reliant on vessels insured in the UK for transport, despite the decrease in insurance companies from the UK covering shipments of Russian crude.
Russia is also heavily reliant on tankers that are owned or insured in countries that implement the oil price cap policy, although this trend has decreased since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as CREA explains.
In December 2023, 62% of Russian oil products, chemicals, and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) were carried on tankers owned or insured in countries that implement the price cap policy.
CREA’s analysis found that 33% of all Russian oil (by volume) was transported on tankers insured in the UK since the sanctions were implemented until early November 2023.
In November, ships insured in the UK transported €3bn of Russian oil products, with vessels shipping crude oil accounting for €803mn of the total.
