Oil tankers, including some chartered by US companies, are still transporting millions of barrels of oil out of Russian ports, the New York Times reported, citing an adviser to Ukraine’s president.
Economic adviser Oleg Ustenko also urged Western oil and gas companies to pledge to not handle oil from Russia and hire independent accounting firms to verify their ship aren’t being loaded with Russian oil, the newspaper reported, citing an interview.
The picture is complicated as the port of Novorossiysk on the Black Sea is a hub for a pipeline that carries oil from neighbouring Kazakhstan that is blended with Russian oil – making it tricky to pinpoint the oil’s origin, the paper said.
Trade out of places like Novorossiysk may present loopholes that allow Russian producers to export their oil, Ustenko said.
US companies are abetting the trade, Ustenko said, citing a tanker chartered by oil giant Chevron, which left Novorossiysk on Friday.
Separately, Chevron, in a statement on Twitter in response to what it said were inaccurate tweets, said “supplies from Kazakhstan remain important to consumers around the world.’’
“Specifically, recent inaccuracies have been tweeted about Chevron’s Mediterranean Voyager. This vessel is shipping Kazakh crude oil with a Kazakhstan Certificate of Origin. These shipments are made in compliance with US and EU law.”