New US Sanctions: China Closes Ports for Russian Oil.

Three tankers with over 2 million barrels of Russian oil are in the waters off eastern China and cannot unload after the US imposed new sanctions against Russia's largest oil companies on Friday, January 10.

According to Bloomberg, the tanker Huihai Pacific was set to arrive at Dongjiaqiao in Shandong province on January 15 after loading nearly 770,000 barrels of ESPO crude oil from the Russian Pacific port of Kozmino earlier this month. However, over the weekend it changed course and is now anchored at sea with loaded oil, reports Ekonomichna Pravda.

The publication reports that this vessel, along with many others, has fallen under the most aggressive package of measures aimed at the export of Russian oil since the invasion of Ukraine in early 2022.

Another tanker, Mermar, left Kozmino on January 5 with over 755,000 barrels of ESPO and was planning to arrive at the Yantai port this week, but is now offshore.

Olia left the Russian port on January 7 with nearly 709,000 barrels of this grade and was also heading to Yantai, but is now in the Yellow Sea.

The tankers cannot unload days after Shandong Port Group Co., which manages several ports in the province, urged terminals to stop allowing oil tankers under sanctions to berth or unload cargo.