G7 targets Russian access to tanker insurance

Group wants to cut Moscow’s hydrocarbon revenues, but even the most stringent sanctions have their limits out at sea

The G7 group of industrialised nations wants to use the shipping market’s insurance providers to reduce Russia’s oil and gas revenues. But while the proposals would limit Russia’s access to tankers, Moscow will likely be able to find ways around the restrictions. A leaders’ communique states that the G7 is considering “a range of approaches” for oil, “including options for a possible comprehensive prohibition of all services, which enable transportation of Russian seaborne crude oil and petroleum products globally, unless the oil is purchased at or below a price to be agreed in consultation with international partners”. Those services include insurance coverage, which in the freight sector i