Second Russian Tanker, Hit by Sanctions, Docks in China

Russian tanker Krymsk, hit by sanctions, docked on Wednesday at the Chinese port of Dongying in eastern Shandong province, home of independent refiners, to discharge 700,000 barrels of Russian Sokol crude, LSEG and Kpler shipping data showed.

This is the second Russian oil tanker, hit by sanctions, to dock at Chinese ports this month. Last week, tanker Liteyny Prospect discharged its 700,000-barrel Sokol crude cargo at the Chinese port of Huanghua near Cangzhou city in Hebei province.

The Dongying port authority declined comment when contacted by Reuters. The manager of the tanker, Sovcomflot (SCF), did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

China has become the top lifter of light sweet Sokol crude after shipments to India fell following payment and shipping issues due to sanctions.

China's Sokol crude imports surged this month and may hit an all-time high of 379,000 barrels per day, according to estimates from Kpler. The data excluded oil from the two sanctioned Russian tankers.

Sokol oil is a low-sulphur, light grade exported from De Kastri terminal of Russia's Sakhalin Island by Sakhalin-1 LLC, controlled by oil giant Rosneft.

The U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) late last month imposed sanctions on SCF and designated 14 crude vessels, including Liteyny Prospect and Krymsk, as property in which SCF has an interest.

OFAC issued general licences allowing the offloading of crude oil, or other cargoes, from the 14 vessels for 45 days, and allowing transactions with all other Sovcomflot tankers.

The sanctions are aimed at reducing revenues from oil sales that Russia can use to support its war in Ukraine.

(Reuters - Reporting by Florence Tan and Beijing team; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Raju Gopalakrishnan)