Western officials have blamed Turkey for the disruption to crude shipments from the Black Sea, stressing there was no reason to block traffic through the Turkish Straits.
At least 22 crude tankers have been stopped from crossing Turkish waters over fears in Ankara that the shipments might be uninsured due to rules that bar tankers transporting Russian crude from accessing European maritime insurance unless the oil is sold for $60 a barrel or less.
But two western officials said the vessels, most of which are loaded with oil from Kazakhstan not Russia, should be allowed to pass.
“It appears that all but one of the roughly 20 loaded crude tankers waiting to cross the straits are carrying Kazakh-origin oil,” one western official involved in the price cap told the Financial Times. “These cargoes would not be subject to the price cap under any scenario, and there should be no change in the status of their insurance from Kazakh shipments in previous weeks or months.”
Oil produced in Kazakhstan by companies including Chevron and ExxonMobil is exported via pipeline across Russia to ports on Russia’s Black Sea coast, where it is loaded on to tankers for the journey through the Turkish Straits to the Mediterranean. Its movement is not restricted under the west’s Russian sanctions.
Turkey has said that the G7 price cap has increased the risks of uninsured vessels in its waters and asked that all crude tankers crossing the Turkish Straits prove they have valid insurance to cover incidents such as oil spills and collisions.
