The Greek navy on Wednesday extended an advisory effectively banning ship traffic off the coast of the southeastern Peloponnese that two sources said was aimed at deterring ship-to-ship transfers of Russian oil off Greece.
\nGreece, in a rare move, over the past weeks has issued two NAVTEX notices for military exercises in the Laconian Gulf area, urging merchant and other vessels to avoid the area. One of them was issued on May 1.
\n\u201cIt was initially expiring on May 9 but was extended today,\u201d said a defence ministry official who declined to be named.
\nFollowing Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, international sanctions have made trading Russian crude and oil products increasingly difficult, prompting traders to seek loopholes to export them, including offshore ship-to-ship transfers.
\nIn recent months, waters around Greece\u2019s southern coast and the Laconian Gulf have been meeting oil transfer points especially for tankers carrying Russian oil onto other vessels.
\nVessels are positioned beyond the limit of six nautical miles from the shore to avoid cargo and vessel checks by Greek authorities.
\n\u201cYou cannot perform an inspection on a ship with a foreign flag in international waters. Unless a vessel carries a Greek flag your hands are tied,\u201d said a second source with knowledge of the matter.
\n\u201cThe NAVTEX advisory is an indirect way to prevent such activities.\u201d
\nA third government official said that Athens plans to extend maritime advisories for military exercises in that area which could eventually push away STS transfers close to Greek waters.
\nIn April, Reuters reported that four tankers were stuck near the Laconian Gulf after the United States hit the vessels with Iran-related sanctions.
\nRussia has been grappling with the loss of insurance and other shipping services as Western countries turn the screws on Moscow with financial sanctions.
\nThe European Commission is expected to propose sanctions on oil tankers in the so-called \u201cshadow fleet\u201dthat transports Russian oil outside the Group of Seven countries (G7) oil price cap limit, European Union sources told Reuters last month.
\n(Reuters)ship-to-ship transfers. Greek navy, ship traffic, Russian oil<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Greek navy has extended an advisory to ban ship traffic off the coast of the southeastern Peloponnese to prevent ship-to-ship transfers of Russian oil. International sanctions have made trading Russian oil difficult, leading to vessels avoiding cargo and vessel checks by Greek authorities in offshore transfer points. The advisory is aimed at deterring such activities and may be extended further to push away ship-to-ship transfers close to Greek waters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":11103,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[8625,3323,8575,2149,3677,1002,1469,1841,2404,4548,415,747,9321,7818,187,146,4920,5527,712,1346,3504,3091,1015,714,9000,5076,3352,5838,7320,19,9323,331,1806,124,9322,796,6928,459,17,544,1238,293,3435,6305,18],"class_list":["post-11102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-other","tag-april","tag-athens","tag-authorities","tag-ban","tag-cargo","tag-checks","tag-coast","tag-european-commission","tag-european-union","tag-gas","tag-government","tag-greece","tag-greek-navy","tag-insurance","tag-international","tag-iran","tag-loopholes","tag-loss","tag-maritime","tag-meeting","tag-military","tag-moscow","tag-navtex","tag-navy","tag-offshore","tag-oil","tag-oil-price","tag-price","tag-products","tag-russia","tag-russian-oil","tag-sanctions","tag-services","tag-ship","tag-ship-traffic","tag-shipping","tag-six","tag-traffic","tag-ukraine","tag-united-states","tag-vessel","tag-war","tag-western-countries","tag-who","tag-world"],"acf":{"keyphrase":"","keywords":"","sourceimg":"","country-category":""},"yoast_head":"\n