Arathy Smasekhar

HOUSTON (Reuters). Approximately 10 Russian-linked vessels were seen approaching the United States this Wednesday. The ships carried crude oil and other refined products from Russia. Suppliers rushed to get their goods in time to beat the U.S. deadline for ending its Russian energy purchases. Data from Refinitiv Eikon traders and Refinitiv Eikon revealed.

This month, the United States of America, world’s largest oil buyer, banned Russian imports due to Ukraine’s invasion. Moscow called it a “special operations”. Washington’s ban allows importers to dispose of cargoes that were moved under pre-ban agreements until April 22.

A minimum of one oil tanker carrying fuel oil to the United States is diverted. At least two other tanks that stopped at Russian terminals have been waiting for discharge at U.S. port, according to Refinitiv data.

Proposed arrivals of products from Russia have been estimated at 18,000,000 barrels (or 597,000 barrels/day) this month according to Clay Seigle, an energy strategist, and Vortexa data. According to U.S. government data, this is a decrease of 672 000 bpd on average last year.

Seigle said that U.S. importers must consider the legal and reputational risks of dealing with sanctioned or stigmatized oils products.

TANCKERS ARRIIVE

The oil tanker Elli is headed for the United States, having docked at Russia’s port. Now, Elli has been anchored in Morocco near Ceuta along Morocco’s north coast. Refinitiv revealed that the Russian oil tanker Beijing Spirit was headed for America, but it diverted to France. This now indicates that Elli will arrive in Philadelphia on March 26, according to Refinitiv.

Halkidon Shipping Corp manages Elli. They said that the ship was instructed by charterers to stay and wait orders off Gibraltar while she was en route from Novorossiisk (Russia) to the U.S. Gulf Coast.

The tanker Confidence, which had been docked in Russia and was chartered US refiner Phillips 66 (NYSE :), was anchored close to New York Harbor with a cargo full of vacuum oil. A vessel manager at Dynacom Tanker stated Wednesday that the Confidence was not subject to sanctions.

Dynacom’s official stated that if it does, it would certainly not sail to America.

Since last week, the Minerva Clara (NYSE:), a chartered vessel carrying oil and fuel has been anchored at sea off Louisiana. Minerva Clara’s managing company refused to comment. Beijing Spirit’s managing company also declined to respond.

SEGGREGATING OIL BLOODS

According to a document seen by Reuters, and a person who is familiar with the matter, PBF Energy (NYSE :), a U.S oil refiner will receive in Delaware City approximately 1,000,000 barrels of Caspian Pipeline Consortium Blend crude. It has been contaminated with a Russian origin certification and transported to Russia.

PBF didn’t respond to our request for comment.

According to the U.S. Treasury, last week’s ban by Russia on imports doesn’t prohibit CPC crude trading. It stated that the CPC could segregate Russian-origin crude oil to be sold and separate non-Russian oils.

CPC Blend is mainly made of Kazakhstani oil, which is sometimes mixed with Russian crude. It is loaded into Russia’s Novorossiisk port at the Black Sea.

Officials from Ukraine demanded Tuesday that western oil companies boycott Russian oil ports. Chevron (NYSE): Ships oil from Kazakhstan through the CPC to stop shipments

Chevron stated that it adheres to U.S. laws, and its portion of the oil in the pipeline was certified by Kazakhstan. The Russian port requested that loadings be halted.