The ocean chase is over: how two Russian tankers will "disappear"
One of the tankers initially managed to evade a US attempt to seize it and was captured only after a weeks-long chase in the Atlantic Ocean. Now, Washington has sold both ships, and their final destination will be shipyards in India.
The US government has sold for scrap two oil tankers that sailed under the Russian flag and were seized by US forces in January as part of the fight against trade in sanctioned oil. Both ships will be dismantled at shipyards in India, Reuters reported, citing a publication by the shipping website Lloyd's List.
The tankers, Era and Lileo, were sold last month to GMS, a company based in Dubai that specializes in purchasing vessels for recycling and dismantling. The transaction amount was not disclosed. The company's CEO, Anil Sharma, said the sale was carried out by the US government after a court order authorizing it was received. According to him, handling the ships is complex, partly due to the difficulty in determining who their previous owners were.
The tanker Era previously sailed under the names Marinera and Bella 1. The US Coast Guard and special forces seized it in January in waters south of Iceland after a chase that lasted for weeks across the Atlantic Ocean. Previously, the ship had managed to evade a US attempt to stop it in the Caribbean region as part of a blockade intended to impact oil exports from Venezuela. Washington claimed that the tanker had previously been used to transport oil from Venezuela and Iran that was subject to sanctions.
The second tanker, Lileo, which previously sailed under the names Galileo and Veronica, was also seized in January in the Caribbean Sea region. The vessel was subject to US sanctions imposed as part of measures against Russia.
The sale also represents a continuation of a process reported by Reuters as early as January, when GMS stated it was in talks with the US government to obtain approval to purchase and dismantle ships seized due to their links to Venezuelan oil trade. The company warned at the time that old tankers used by what is known as the "shadow fleet" could pose an environmental risk, partly due to the lack of insurance and valid safety certificates.
The United States has seized up to ten oil tankers following military activity in Venezuela, as part of a broader effort to enforce the sanctions regime and disrupt networks used to transport Russian, Iranian, and Venezuelan oil.
