While official figures from Sovcomflot have confirmed 14 vessels sold, Lloyd’s List has confirmed at least 23 sales to date, with several more in the works due to be completed over the coming days

At least four members of the Sovcomflot executive board, including long-serving executive vice-president and chief financial officer Nikolai Kolesnikov, have stepped down in the wake of western sanctions targeting the tanker giant. Sovcomflot’s Cyprus office has now been closed and the remaining UK operations are being directed by Moscow management

Sovcomflot is negotiating the sales of dozens of its vessels to multiple Chinese and Middle Eastern buyers before sanctions deadlines kick in, but sales are also now taking place via Western banks allowing legitimate sales to many of the shipping industry’s largest shipowners to go through with no sanctions restrictions

Belgian tanker giant and aspiring market consolidator sets out a positive view of tanker market fundamentals ahead of a crucial board meeting that will likely determine the future of the company’s proposed merger with rival Frontline

A tanker suspected of carrying Iranian crude oil performed an abrupt U-turn off Croatia this week only hours after pressure group UANI issued a public flurry of letters highlighting the trade

Sovcomflot’s status as a sanctioned Russian company will limit the available buyers ready to engage in quick sales. The result may see vessels end up joining the veteran fleet of tankers registered to opaque networks of companies linked to sanctioned Iranian and Venezuela shipments