without prejudice
OPINION
There’s a good reason for this saying:
DON’T POKE THE BEAR
AMERICA MUST TREAD SOFTLY OR FACE OFF THE BEAR
Russia-flagged medium range tanker Vasily Lanovoy was laden with about 300,000 barrels of the light product from Ust Luga, used as a diluent in Venezuela to thin highly viscous Orinoco crude.
Seahorse (IMO 9266750)
That Russian tanker, Seahorse (IMO 9266750), also delivered diluent to Venezuela.
The U.S. Navy’s encounter with the SEAHORSE (IMO: 9266750) is a Crude Oil Tanker and is sailing under the flag of Cameroon. Earlier this month underscores the growing friction surrounding this clandestine segment of the global energy trade.
American officials have not publicly detailed the nature of the standoff with the U.S. destroyer USS Stockdale, but analysts say the incident highlights escalating efforts by Washington to disrupt Russia’s sanctions-evading logistics.
VASILY LANOVOY (IMO: 9621601)
The newly arrived tanker, the VASILY LANOVOY (IMO: 9621601) is an Oil/Chemical Tanker sailing under the flag of Russia, has previously been deployed to transport condensate linked to Russia’s sanctioned Arctic LNG 2 project – an operation already under heavy scrutiny from U.S. and European regulators.
In this latest instance the vessel departed from the Baltic port of Ust-Luga on October 27 traveling across the Atlantic. It arrived at Venezuela’s oil loading complex at Puerto José on November 22.
The arrival of the Vasily Lanovoy – a vessel with a well-documented history of conducting high-risk cargo operations – adds an additional layer of complexity. The vessel without an ice classification picked up several loads of condensate from the Arctic LNG 2 project between August and October 2024. The vessel disengaged its AIS transponder for parts of those journeys.
FULL EDITORIAL HERE (gcaptain.com)