EU widens shadow fleet net but stops short of full Russian oil shipping ban

Brussels, 28 April. The EU has tightened its sanctions regime against Russia's so-called shadow fleet to a record 632 vessels but stopped short of a long-anticipated ban on maritime services for Russian crude, after pushback from member states with significant shipping economies including Greece and Malta.

The 20th sanctions package, formally adopted by the Council of the EU on 23 April, designates 46 additional tankers tied to the shadow fleet and introduces mandatory due diligence checks and a "no Russia" clause for the sale of EU-owned tankers, in an effort to prevent vessels disposed of by EU owners from being absorbed into the parallel fleet that has carried Russian oil above the G7 price cap since 2022.

The package also lists the Russian ports of Murmansk and Tuapse alongside Karimun Oil Terminal in Indonesia for their role in circumvention, bans services to Russian-flagged LNG tankers and icebreakers from 25 April, and prohibits LNG terminal services to Russian-controlled entities from January 2027. A major maritime insurer has been added to the asset freeze list, alongside Gazprom subsidiaries and several Russian refineries.

What was left out is what shipping industry observers had been watching most closely. The Council introduced only a legal basis for a future maritime services ban on Russian oil and petroleum products, to be implemented in coordination with the G7 and the Price Cap Coalition. Greece and Malta, two of the bloc's largest shipping registers, had raised concerns that a unilateral EU ban without G7 backing could harm their economies, where shipping remains a critical industry.

Sweden's foreign minister, Maria Malmer Stenergard, called for work on a 21st package to begin immediately, including a full ban on services to ships leaving Russian ports with oil, gas or coal. The package was adopted alongside a €90bn EU support programme for Ukraine, after vetoes by Hungary and Slovakia were dropped.