US moves to legitimise shadow tanker fleet
US energy secretary Chris Wright said the Trump administration is authorising the sale of sanctioned oil tankers to approved investors who would refurbish them and return them to legitimate crude trades, amid efforts to contain freight costs during the Hormuz crisis. Wright said the government was developing an approval process for formerly blacklisted vessels to trade under recognised owners carrying only non-sanctioned oil, and said the move was not a blanket lifting of sanctions on Iranian or Russian oil. INTERTANKO warned that legalising a vessel does not automatically address its condition, ownership or insurance, while Kpler estimated only 24 of roughly 160 OFAC-sanctioned VLCCs could realistically return to mainstream trading.
Why it matters: The initiative matters for sanctions policy because it seeks to convert blacklisted tonnage into compliant trade without lifting oil sanctions.