10/05/2022
Exclusive: Russian oil tankers worth billions head to South Africa
News Hub CreatorMay 8, 2022 6:15 PM
Russian oil tankers were spotted heading to South Africa.
The ship is due to arrive next Sunday in Saldanha, home to a huge Strategic Fuel Fund (SFF) store built 40 years ago to prop up the apartheid regime.
Another tanker of Russian oil, also scheduled to call at Saldanha, changed course this week and continued around Cape Agulhas, heading east. The two ships and many others carrying Russian oil are being closely monitored as Moscow’s economy takes strain after its invasion of Ukraine.
This week, the EU urged members to join an embargo on Russian oil imports, but SA has opted to remain neutral in the conflict. President Cyril Ramaphosa says this provides an opportunity to mediate.
SA and Russia are members of the fivenation Brics emerging economies group, which also includes China, Brazil and India, and Russia played a key role in the fight against the apartheid regime.
The Ukraine crisis has put SA’s ties with Moscow under pressure as President Vladimir Putin’s opponents seek to inflict economic pain on the oil-rich nation. Russia’s seaborne oil shipments have fallen 14% in the past week, according to Bloomberg. Many customers are “backing away from cargoes on Russian-owned vessels”, the company said.
Ukrainian academic Dzvinka Kachur, a fellow at the Centre for Sustainability Transitions at the University of Stellenbosch, said Russia was using its energy resources to manipulate other countries’ responses to its invasion. “While SA suggests it has a neutral position in this conflict, it is in the interest of South Africans to stop this war as soon as possible,” said Kachur.
“The small official numbers of trade between Russia and SA is far less than the negative consequences the South African population will carry as a result of the increase in prices for food and fuel — and instability of the financial markets — all as results of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.”
DA energy spokesperson Kevin Mileham said in light of Russia’s “pariah status” in much of the world, SA should not be helping Moscow. “Many nations have implemented sanctions on Russia, but SA is not one of them,” Mileham told the Sunday Times.
“We lack clarity on the source, purpose and purchaser of this oil, and there are no legal impediments prohibiting SA or private entities from purchasing Russian oil. We will continue to monitor this situation closely.
“The DA has submitted parliamentary questions to [energy] minister Gwede Mantashe to clarify the nature of this transaction and to determine how much oil is being purchased from Russia.”
Despite the attention on the incoming tanker — the Liberian-flagged Elandra Denali — shipping agents in Saldanha refused to discuss the vessel and its cargo.
Bloomberg said the oil was loaded at Russia’s Black Sea port of Novorossiysk on April 8 and trans-shipped to the Elandra Denali near the port of Ceuta, just south of Gibraltar, on April 26.
On Friday the 330m ship was travelling at 17 knots off West Africa and scheduled to call at Saldanha “for orders”, according to marine traffic information.
Maritime traffic sources said a laden tanker would have no cause to divert to Saldanha unless it wished to discharge cargo.
