Russia shifts to Hong Kong tankers as Greek operators exit Black Sea

Russia turned to non-G7 tankers for seaborne crude sales to foreign buyers in August, especially those operated by Hong Kong companies, as Greek tanker firms steered clear of the Black Sea amid an escalation in maritime attacks.

Tankers flagged, owned and operated by companies not based in G7 countries and their allies, and not insured by Western protection and indemnity clubs, loaded 70.7% of Russia's crude exports of 3.8 million barrels/day last month, according to S&P Global Commodities at Sea and Maritime Intelligence Risk Suite data.

The share was up from 63.8% in July, reversing a downward trend in recent months, and the highest in five months.

Hong Kong tanker operators were responsible for lifting 32 million barrels in August, exceeding their peers in Mainland China and all other countries, the data showed. The monthly reading was much higher than 18 million barrels in July and the highest since at least November 2022, the month before the G7 price cap came into effect.

An analysis of the CAS and MIRS data reveals that the companies mainly operated aged ships without using G7 maritime services and had an opaque ownership structure, and that over three-fourths of their shipments last month were from the Black Sea.

"In Hong Kong, ownership can be shifted to a new entity quickly and cheaply, often within days, making the jurisdiction highly attractive to shipowners seeking to stay ahead of sanctions authorities," think tank China Strategic Risks Institute said in a research note earlier this year.

"Hong Kong's incorporation system allows beneficial owners and sources of funding to be obscured behind layers of nominees, secretarial firms, and interchangeable shell entities."

Greek withdrawal

The bigger role of tanker operators based in the Chinese special administrative region came as Ukraine intensified drone attacks on ships they deemed as engaged in Russian Black Sea trades in recent months, and several linked to Greek interests were damaged near Novorossiysk.

Those include Kyklades Maritime's Suezmax Nissos Sifnos and Dynacom's Marathi, which were targeted when operating at or near the Caspian Pipeline Consortium terminal, which mainly exports Kazakh crude.

Shipments by tanker operators in Greece, the EU's top shipowning nation, fell to a five-month low of 13.6 million barrels last month from 26.4 million barrels in August, according to CAS/MIRS. Their Black Sea lifitings dropped to 3 million barrels from 11.6 million barrels.

The withdrawal coincided with a recovery in Russian crude prices, which limited compliant trade opportunities.

The monthly average price for Urals, Russia's flagship crude grade, rose to $64.242/b in August from $52.927/b in August, according to Platts assessments. It surged further to $86.05/b on Sept. 9.

Platts is part of S&P Global Energy.

Based on the G7 price cap regime, which has fragmented following US President Donald Trump's return to the White House in 2025, the US would let tanker operators ship Russian crude when the price is below $60/b, Japan set the threshold at $47.6/b, and the EU, UK and Canada at $47.6/b.