Oil supertanker from Russian port to dock in Southampton
A supertanker carrying crude oil that sailed from a Russian port was due to dock in Southampton on Friday with cargo destined for an ExxonMobil refinery.
The Seatribute is one of 148 tankers carrying oil and gas that have left Russian ports since Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine began 14 days ago, according to data on shipping movements gathered by Greenpeace.
The marine tracking data reveals that 69 of the tankers that have sailed from Russian ports are on their way to Europe.
Grant Shapps has said Russian vessels will be banned from UK ports in an effort to ensure the Kremlin is not funding its war effort with sales of oil and gas in the UK.
But the transport secretary’s ban covers vessels owned, controlled, operated or chartered by anyone connected with Russia and any vessel flying the Russian flag or registered in Russia.
The Seatribute is registered in Malta. It left the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk at 01.27 on 23 February, according to maritime data. It was due to dock at Southampton on Friday afternoon.
Greenpeace is tracking supertankers carrying fossil fuels that have left Russia since the war began, using shipping data to monitor their movements.
ExxonMobil, which owns the refinery in Fawley where the oil on Seatribute is destined to go, denied it was Russian oil. The company said the oil was from Kazakhstan, and had been transported via the Caspian pipeline.
The pipeline transports the bulk of Kazakhstan’s oil exports through southern Russia to the oil terminal at Novorossiysk. But about 10% of the oil that passes through the pipeline comes from oilfields in the Russian sector of the Caspian, which is blended with the Kazakh crude. The pipeline is part-owned by Russia.
ExxonMobil said in a statement: “No
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