US Expands Oil-Related Sanctions Against Russia

On Thursday, the US Treasury Department imposed a new round of Russia-related sanctionsAP reports. Some of the measures affect companies and ships that used American service providers for shipment of Russian crude oil in violation of the multinational price ceiling. Another set of sanctions on a group of people and companies in the Balkans, related to the Kremlin’s influence in the region.

The Foreign Assets Control Office of the Ministry of Finance imposed sanctions on three companies based in the United Arab Emirates emirates, as well as blocking three ships that used US service providers to transport Russian crude oil above the limit price of 60 dollars.

Sanctions block access to American property and bank accounts and do not allow the sanctioned to develop business with Americans. The ships’ actions also put them on a blacklist for transporting goods with US service providers.

In the sanctions included Bosnian politicians accused of being leading figures in organized crime in Montenegro and companies and executives in North Macedonia linked to sanctioned Russians.

“Russia has continued to use its influence in the Western Balkans to impede the region’s integration into international institutions and organizations, and to use key jurisdictions to facilitate its aggressive destabilizing activities,” said Brian Nelson, Under Secretary for Terrorism and the financial intelligence of the Ministry of Finance.

We recall that earlier this week it became clear that the US Department of the Treasury had sent notices to ship management companies requesting information on 100 ships it suspects of violating Western sanctions for Russian oil.

Notices sent by the Office of Foreign Assets Control to companies to operate ships in about 30 countries on Friday, represent the largest step of its kind by the United States since Washington and its allies imposed a price ceilingaimed at curbing oil revenue for Moscow as punishment for its incursion into Ukraine, the source said.

The Group of Seven (G7), the European Union and Australia imposed a $60-a-barrel cap last December on Russian crude oil exports by sea. It prohibits Western companies from providing services such as transportation, insurance and financing for oil sold above the ceiling.

The movement of world oil prices this year means that much of Russian oil is trading above the ceiling. But U.S. officials said the cap still imposes additional costs on Russia, such as forcing it to rely on a “ghost fleet” of aging tankers, longer voyages and non-Western maritime services that reduce the revenue it can spend on the war.

In the European Union’s (EU) 12th package of European sanctions against Russia, among other things, it is planned to strengthen control over compliance with the so-called “price ceiling” of Russian oil. The additional procedures should make it more difficult for the Russians to circumvent this restriction.