XOM - Russian Oil Hits US Shores Under Sanction-Busting Loophole | Benzinga
Oil traders were puzzled on Thursday, Jan. 31, after a shipment of 10,000 barrels of Russian oil entered the U.S., considering it’s banned.
According to data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), posted on X by Bloomberg’s commodities editor Javier Blas, the Russian shipment entered the port of Wilmington, Delaware, on Nov. 3.
However, Executive Order 14066 — one of the sanctions that followed Russia’s attempt to invade Ukraine in February 2022 — banned the import of oil of Russian origin.
Blas thinks the Russian oil entered the U.S. through a loophole.
“The oil was shipped from Russia to the Bahamas before March 2022 — when the U.S. banned Russian imports,” he said.
While in the Bahamas it was blended with oil from other destinations — thus diluting its origin.
“So, technically, it is excluded from the ban. After 18 months in storage, it was shipped to the PBF Energy (NYSE:PBF) refinery in Delaware City.”