Two shadow fleet tankers seized in a high-profile US sanctions enforcement operation have been sold for scrap, ending a politically charged saga that exposed opaque Russian ownership networks while highlighting the legal and commercial complexities of disposing of sanctioned vessels

Despite Western government pledges to crack down on stateless or fraudulently flagged shadow fleet tankers, the number of transits through the Baltic and North Sea is growing. Now Russia is warning that a ‘false flag’ operation to restrict movements is in the works

A VLCC acquired by the UN for $55m to prevent a massive oil spill off Yemen is essentially being used by the Houthis as floating storage for Russian oil, while costs for running the vessel are still being fronted by the UN