High increase of oil tankers waiting in the Bosphorus Strait
The number of oil tankers waiting in the Black Sea to cross the Bosphorus Strait towards the Mediterranean rose by five to 16 on Thursday, a shipping agency said, amid talks between the West and Turkish officials on measures to resolve the tanker queuing problem in the region.
An official at the British Treasury said that these talks are taking place after the Group of Seven major industrialized countries and the European Union applied new restrictions on the fifth of this month on Russian oil exports.
The Group of Seven, the European Union and Australia have agreed to prevent shipping providers such as insurance companies from dealing with Russian crude exports unless they are sold according to a price ceiling they set for Russian crude aimed at depriving Moscow of wartime oil revenues.
However, a separate measure implemented by Türkiye since the beginning of the month has caused a backlog of waiting tankers, as it obliges ships to provide evidence of insurance coverage during the transit period in the Bosphorus Strait when stopping in Turkish ports.
Tribeca Shipping Agency said five other tankers over 200 meters in length were waiting north of the Bosphorus to cross south towards the Mediterranean, in addition to 11 tankers since the previous day.
Tribeca Agency added that no crossing is scheduled yet.
The agency indicated that nine tankers are waiting to cross from the Dardanelles Strait to the south, down from 12 the day before.
Three tankers are scheduled to pass through the strait on Thursday, two en route from Tuapse in Russia to Fujairah in the UAE and one en route from Tuzla in Türkiye to Sidi Kerir in Egypt.
Wali Adio, US Deputy Secretary of the Treasury, told Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Onal in a phone call on Wednesday, that the price ceiling applies only to Russian oil and doesn’t necessarily entail additional checks and inspections on ships passing through Turkish territorial waters, according to the US Treasury Department.
