The United Arab Emirates has started shipping rare cargoes of oil toward Europe, where crude buyers are snubbing imports from Russia in the wake of the nation’s invasion of Ukraine.
The oil tanker Moscow Spirit—hired by TotalEnergies SA’s shipping arm—is sailing west in the Mediterranean Sea with a cargo of about 1 million barrels of Emirati crude on board. It’s likely to deliver to a European port, according to tanker tracking and port agent data compiled by Bloomberg. The same company also has UAE oil on a supertanker that’s heading toward Egypt. It’s very possible the consignment will end up in Europe as well.
Prior to the invasion, Russia was Europe’s largest external supplier of crude, but many of the cargoes that once got delivered to the continent are instead being transported to Asia.