The Financial Times reported that in the territorial waters of Turkey, a large number of tankers formed because a handful of countries implemented a cap on the price of Russian oil.
Turkey’s coast guard has now been ordered by the government to hold off ships that want to enter the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits to avoid accumulating them in one place, but sources claim that the traffic jam is due to a serious change in Ankara’s requirements for ship insurance.
On December 5, the European Union banned the supply of Russian oil by sea, along with related restrictions on pricing. After lengthy discussions, the countries of the bloc agreed to set the maximum price for Russian fuel at $60 per barrel.
Often times crude oil and other products traveling through the Bosporus Straits face high risks of interacting with and slowing down other ships. The United States issued an official statement regarding this issue, which included a letter and a navigation plan, just to keep up with Ankara’s new rule change. This added requirement is likely to create a headache for tankers in the region.