February 9, 2025
In total, trade data obtained by CBC News showed since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine since 2022, there were 18 other tankers that brought in refined petroleum products to Montreal, Quebec City, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick refineries. None of those vessels have been named as part of the shadow fleet.

Banned Russian oil is coming to Canada. Here’s how

‘Shadow fleet’ exploits loophole to trade Russian oil, possibly fuelling Canadian vehicles

Millions of dollars worth of Russian oil is coming into Canada thanks to a loophole in federal sanctions, providing much-needed income for the Kremlin to fuel its ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

CBC News’s visual investigations team, in collaboration with the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), found that since the start of the Ukraine war roughly 2.5 million barrels — or $250 million worth of refined petroleum products like gasoline, diesel and jet fuel — have ended up in Canada.

Based on calculations made by CREA, those Canadian oil imports have provided the Kremlin with just over $100 million in revenue, enough to recruit thousands of soldiers in Russia.

“When consumers in Canada are buying vehicle fuels or getting on flights, there is a high probability that a proportion of those jet fuels or diesels … could be made from Russian crude,” said Isaac Levi, Europe-Russia Policy and Energy Analysis team lead at the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air.

The crude oil originates in Russia, but because it is refined in another country like India or Turkey and mixed with crude from other sources before being exported to Canada, it does not violate sanctions.

“We’re calling for the refining loophole to be closed and this process to be banned,” said Levi.

Sanctions compliance, according to William Pellerin, international trade lawyer at McMillan LLP, is “more difficult because of a lack of clarity in the Canadian sanctions regime.”

“It’s very clear that Russian crude is prohibited from being imported into Canada. It’s also very clear that non-crude Russian oil products are prohibited from entering into Canada,” said Pellerin.

“What is not clear is … the use of Russian crude imports that then get processed and finished by a third country.”

Some of the crude oil — according to data on port visits by vessels, satellite imagery and ship traffic data provided by Marine Traffic — is shipped to those refineries by Russia’s “shadow fleet” — a group of tankers widely said to evade sanctions and international oil price cap rules, which limit the price at which Russia can sell its oil.

“[The loophole] undermines the overall intent, not just of sanctions, but of the whole effort to support Ukraine and punish and try to change Russia’s behaviour,” said Jane Boulden, a political science professor at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont.

Read It All…

Subscribe
Notify of
guest
0 Comments
Newest
Oldest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments