The move marks another escalation in the West’s efforts to enforce the $60 price cap on seaborne shipments of Russian oil it imposed to punish Moscow for its war in Ukraine. The mechanism bans Western companies from providing maritime services such as transportation, insurance and finance that facilitate the trade of Russian oil sold above the cap. Russia has increasingly had to turn to a so-called “ghost fleet” of aging tankers to ship oil and avoid the cap. Panama, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and Liberia have allowed some of those ships to carry their flags, according to Lloyd’s List Intelligence and oil analysts. The practice, known as “flag hopping,” allows some shell companies that have been set up to trade Russian oil to sail with ships under those flags and dodge sanctions.
