U.S. Adds Three More Shippers to Russian Sanction List over Oil Price Cap

The United States Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has added three additional companies and vessels to the sanctioned list for violations pertaining to the oil price cap set on Russian crude oil.

Today’s inclusion marks the eighth action taken to enforce the crude oil price cap.

Of the three entities sanctioned on Friday, two companies are based in the United Arab Emirates: Sterling Shipping Incorporated and Steymoy Shipping Limited. The third entity to find itself on the list is HS Atlantica Limited, based in Liberia.

OFAC has deemed the three vessels as blocked property, it said in a Friday statement.

There are three vessels owned by the above companies that stand accused of carrying Russian crude oil that was priced above $70 per barrel. Two of those three are beneficially owned by Russian shipping company Sovcomflot PJSC, in which the Russian government is the largest shareholder. Sovcomflot beneficially owns six of the eight vessels that have been sanctioned so far, according to Bloomberg.

According to OFAC, enforcing the price cap on Russian oil is a “top priority.”

“By targeting these companies and their ships, we are upholding the dual goals of the price cap by restricting Russia’s profits from oil while promoting stable global energy markets,” the statement read.

The United States, the G7, the EU, and Australia have all agreed to prohibit the importation of crude oil and crude oil products originating from Russia unless the oil is purchased and sold below the designation price cap as specified by the coalition.

While the price cap was widely critisized before implementation as being ineffective, the US Administration has insisted that such an action would make it possible to restrict the flow of oil-generated profits into Russia without upsetting the global oil supply.

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

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