Turkey: oil companies will have to prove that they are insured

According to Anadolu citing Turkish officials, “some international companies have cancelled coverage of many buildings due to the sanctions imposed on Russia” since the start of the war against Ukraine. Ankara’s decision corresponds to the entry into force of theEuropean embargo on Russian oilThe European Union, G7 countries and Australia are prohibited from providing any services to tankers carrying Russian crude oil, including insuring them, with a price cap of up to $60. The G7 countries provide the insurance benefits for 90% of the world’s cargo.

“We want to make sure they are covered, because they have started to hide it,” an official source told AFP, confirming information from the official Turkish news agency Anadolu. This request dates back to December 1, the source said.

The specialized website “TheTankerTracker.com”reported early Wednesday that Russian seaborne oil exports have been cut in half in the last 48 hours.

According to Anadolu, Turkish officials suspect Western insurers of double-dealing: “They hope that Turkey will let the ships pass even without guarantees, so that they can comply with international sanctions and their responsibilities to their clients at the same time.

For Yörük Isik, a specialist in monitoring ship movements on the Bosphorus and in the region, Turkey now requires the presentation of “protection and indemnity insurance”(P&I) for all ships coming from Russian ports. This type of insurance covers risks ranging from wars to environmental damage for amounts that can be colossal. However, Western insurers refuse to provide, in writing, to each ship, a “general commitment to cover everything that happens in the Bosphorus”, as Turkey requires and contrary to the Russian insurers “who have just started” to do so, says Yörük Isik.

“We are therefore in a situation where, de facto, the most honest and reputable shipowners can no longer transit through the Turkish Straits,” he said.

In a statement, the International Group of P&I Clubs, which believes it covers almost all of the world’s shipping, said that after “assessing the situation in detail, the Clubs have decided that they cannot issue such a letter.

Because, he justifies, “issuing such a letter, in these circumstances, would be tantamount to violating European, American and British sanctions”, in particular those that came into force on 5 December setting a ceiling price for Russian oil.

The Bosphorus, which connects the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara, and the Dardanelles Strait, which opens into the Aegean Sea, are the obligatory passageways for oil tankers coming from Russia as well as for cargo ships that have been transporting Ukrainian grain since last summer under an agreement involving Turkey, Ukraine, Russia and the United Nations. Under the Montreux Convention (1936), the control of movements in these two straits was entrusted to Turkey. Since 2002, Turkey has required all vessels borrowing from it to be covered by insurance or they will be denied passage.