The owners of crude oil tankers began to buy in large quantities vessels capable of transporting goods in icy waters. According to Bloomberg, this includes ships for the carriage of Russian raw materials.

“About $1 billion was spent on used ice-class tankers between May and August, about five times more than a year earlier,” according to British company E.A. Gibson Shipbrokers Ltd.

During the period from May to August 2022. 42 tankers were sold in ice class. Most of the deals were made by companies from China, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates. Ice-class ships are suitable for transporting Russian oil, said Richard Matthews, head of the firm’s research group.

“Companies that intend to facilitate Russian exports in the winter will need ice-class ships,” he said.

By comparison, shipowners purchased a total of only 12 oil tankers during the same period in 2021. Such a spike in purchases of tankers this year is connected with concerns about oil transportation in the conditions of international sanctions against Russia. Countries of the European Union are planning to prohibit imports of Russian raw materials by sea from December 5.

On September 12, Minister of Mining and Energy of Serbia Zorana Mihajlovic stated that the Balkan country would no longer be able to buy Russian oil from November 1, due to European Union sanctions. As an alternative, she allowed the supply of Iraqi raw materials. According to the minister, before the European sanctions, the republic used to buy 25% of its oil from Russia; 20% was produced from the Serbian deposits; the rest came from the oil from the Iraqi city of Kirkuk.

Earlier, we reported that food prices in the world remained high despite the grain deal.