Equinor’s Russian retreat heightens self-sanctioning price spike fears

Consultancy Kpler suggests a slowdown in Russian flows might be about to show up in the data and is not priced in

Norway’s Equinor has joined fellow IOC Shell in deciding to stop trading in Russian oil. The firm will not enter any new trades or engage in transport of oil and oil products from Russia, although it will continue to receive cargoes bought before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Equinor’s principled stance is to be applauded. But cargo tracking firm Kpler warns that so-called ‘self-sanctioning’, where companies either publicly or privately quit trading in Russian barrels, has yet to show up in trade flow data. If and when it does—potentially from later this week— “it is hard to see how crude oil prices are not being under-priced”, in Kpler’s view. Equinor’s ongoing commitments include contracts