Sanctioned Vessels Shipped $11 Billion of Russian Oil Last Year
Vessels that have been sanctioned by the U.S. shipped more than $11 billion worth of Russian oil last year, a data analysis shows.
After Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, the U.S. and other Western countries imposed a range of economic and trade sanctions, including on Russian oil, to squeeze Moscow’s economy. Despite these efforts, according to analysis by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), tankers sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury’s Office for Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) carried $11,728,000,000 of oil from February 24, 2025, to February 24, 2026.
Oil Trade Reveals Significant Gap between Sanctions Policy and Real-World Impact
CREA aggregated OFAC data and found that U.S.-sanctioned tankers carried 25.9 million tons of oil across 268 voyages. China was responsible for importing the vast majority of the oil (66 percent) and other countries that traded Russian oil included Syria, India, Brunei, Indonesia, Cuba, and Japan.
Mark Temnycky, a non-resident fellow at the Atlantic Council think tank’s Eurasia Center, told Newsweek that the analysis “reveals a significant gap between the state’s objectives for U.S. sanctions policy toward the Russian Federation and their real-world impact.” The fact that these vessels continued to operate, complete trades, and transport Russian oil means that the Russian Federation profited from these events, he said.
Enforcement Shortfalls in Sanction Policy
The analysis also suggests serious enforcement shortfalls in the sanction policy targeting Russia’s energy sector, indicating the Russian Federation is not feeling the full consequences of these sanctions. It follows Newsweek reporting that from January 2024 to January 2025, the U.S. imported $192 million in oil products from Nayara Energy, a refiner backed by Rosneft Energy—a Russian company that is sanctioned by the U.S.
Russia’s Income from Fossil Fuel Exports Drops
In its fourth year of war, Russia’s income from fossil fuel exports dropped by 19 percent year-on-year and 27 percent below pre-invasion levels. Meanwhile, Russian revenues from crude oil exports dropped by 18 percent year-on-year while volumes fell by 6 percent.
New Pressures Emerge with Fresh Conflict
Meanwhile, America‘s fresh conflict with Iran has created new pressures. While U.S. President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on India to pressure it to limit its economic relationship with Russia, the U.S. last week provided India with a 30-day waiver to buy the Kremlin’s oil in order to ease the demand on global oil supplies as gas and oil prices soar. Iran had shut off shipping access through the Strait of Hormuz, through which most Middle Eastern oil flows.
Original Article: US-Sanctioned Vessels Shipped $11 Billion of Russian Oil Last Year — Newsweek