Russia, probably, has found a new way to transport its oil under Western sanctions, using Egypt’s El Hamra oil terminal.
The Bloomberg agency reported that a shipment of about 700,000 barrels of Russian oil was delivered to the El Hamra terminal on the morning of July 24 by the Crested tanker. A few hours later, another vessel, the Chris, took all or part of the oil from the port.
The Chris tanker is currently moored near the Ras Shukheir oil terminal on the Red Sea coast in Egypt. This terminal also makes it possible to mix Russian crude oil with Egyptian crude oil, making it difficult to establish its origin.
“The unusual move makes the cargo’s ultimate destination harder to track, adding to a trend of Russian oil shipments becoming increasingly obscured since European buyers began to shun them following the nation’s invasion of Ukraine.”
Egypt has already been used by Russia as a transit route for fuel oil. It is unclear whether the El Hamra incident was a one-off or part of a more regular scheme to export Russian oil.
See also: Baker Hughes, one of the world’s largest oil service companies, has finally left the Russian market
