INTERACTIVE: Seaborne trade in Russian oil under G7 price cap

(Latest update: April 9, 2026)

Russia, one of the world’s largest oil suppliers, has increasingly turned to non-Western firms to transport its crude to overseas buyers during its ongoing war with Ukraine.

With the goal of undermining Russia’s war chest without creating significant disruptions to global supplies amid inflation pressure, G7 countries and their allies have banned tanker operators, insurers and other services firms from facilitating seaborne Russian crude exports unless the barrels are sold below a certain threshold.

The price cap regime first came into force on Dec. 5, 2022. Currently, the EU, UK and Canada set the threshold at $44.10/b, Japan at $47.60/b, and the US at $60/b.

The regulations do not directly cover tankers flagged, owned and operated by companies outside the G7, the EU, Australia, Switzerland and Norway, and not insured by Western protection and indemnity clubs.

While such ships tend to be older and less maintained, their share in Russia’s crude export market has been rising in recent months amid strengthening prices of Urals -- the OPEC+ member’s flagship crude grade -- and tightening sanctions enforcement by the West.

Related content: G7 crude tankers withdraw from Russia with Urals rising above price cap

Non-price-capped tankers have a larger market share in shipping Russia’s Pacific crude exports, according to S&P Global Commodities at Sea and Maritime Intelligence Risk Suite data. Crudes such as the Sokol, Sakhalin Blend and Eastern Siberia–Pacific Ocean grades are more often transported by those ships than Russian barrels from Baltic or Black Sea ports like Urals.

Tanker operators in Greece, Europe’s top shipowning nation, managed to keep their traditionally strong market position in Russia in the first few months of the price cap taking effect before giving way to their peers in the UAE, China, Hong Kong and the Seychelles.

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