The “shadow fleet” of oil tankers moving Russian crude outside mainstream shipping channels has expanded alongside new Western sanctions, Trafigura chief economist Saad Rahim told the APPEC 2025 conference, according to Reuters.

Rahim said fleet growth has slowed this year but continues as newly acquired vessels replace ships that are blacklisted, helping keep Russian petroleum exports flowing despite international sanctions aimed at curbing Moscow’s oil revenue, Reuters reported.

An analysis published by the Brookings Institute in April found that Russia’s shadow fleet had grown from fewer than 100 vessels in February 2022 to 343 ships, with the Russian Federation adding approximately seven vessels per month since the country’s invasion of Ukraine. Most of the ships could be traced to sales in Greece and other EU countries, with Greek ships accounting for more than double the contribution from the rest of the economic bloc. 

The Russia-owned vessels help Moscow skirt international sanctions by making ship-to-ship transfers in international waters, falsifying ship identification numbers and insurance documents, spoofing geolocation data, and using flags of convenience, Reuters reported in May. Most of the fleet’s tankers are owned by shell companies in Dubai and other jurisdictions, where they can be rapidly bought or sold with little view of the individual owners. 

Read more from Reuters here