The number of oil tankers stopped in front of the Bosphorus rises this Friday to twenty. Dozens of miles further south, nine more oil tankers are also waiting to cross the Dardanelles and finally access the Aegean and the Mediterranean, although in several cases they declare more distant destinations, such as the Emirates.
Since last Monday, the European Union, the G7 have disrupted the circulation of Russian oil, setting a maximum price of 60 US dollars per barrel. According to these organizations, only oil below this limit may enter the ports of their member countries, with the added prohibition for companies to provide any service to those who violate this measure, through the transport or insurance of the merchandise.
The ultimate effect of these measures is still the subject of speculation, but the immediate effect is plain to see in Istanbul, with tens of millions of barrels of oil cut off from its markets and putting pressure on prices.
The fact is that Turkey wants to cover its back, demanding full coverage from insurers, which even assumes the cost of any penalty for non-compliance. However, Western insurers are opposed at the outset. And from London it is denounced that the possible pooling of risks by insurers could end up being a covert way of giving carte blanche to transgression.
The measures inspired by Washington, London and Brussels mainly harm insurers from the EU and the United Kingdom, which control between 90% and 95% of this market and which since Monday have been prohibited from insuring Russian oil cargoes paid for above of the 60 dollars per barrel. On the other hand, this is approximately the price of a barrel originating in the Urals, so the cap would seek to prevent escalations, in the face of an uncertain winter.
It should be added that the ownership of many ships - the so-called "ghost fleets" - is increasingly blurred, as is the real origin of the oil or its final destination. And that Russia intends to contribute to the diversionary exercise by offering its own state-owned reinsurance company to circumvent the Western veto.
In fact, most of the oil stranded off the Bosphorus is declared to originate from Kazakhstan. In most cases, embarked on European ships bound for Europe's needy ports, much to the frustration of Brussels.
It would not be the first time that a measure encouraged by the European Commission has an effect opposite to that desired. Suffice it to remember that, after various packages of sanctions against Russia, the ruble is trading at one of its highest levels in recent years.
Nor would it be the first time that European consumers end up paying dearly for Russian oil - and the big words of the Commission - for the benefit of Emirati or Indian intermediaries, mainly private, such as Reliance, which also refines.
Yesterday, the US Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen, expressed her perplexity at the supplementary insurance required by Ankara. Turkey, which does not follow the boycott of Russia and has spoken out against other unilateral sanctions that threaten the free market, rejects this and other pressures and assures that the only thing that worries it is "doing things right".
Also the European Commission is washing its hands of the logjams, saying there is a 45-day liquidation period for Russian oil purchased before December 5th. But the mistrust of European insurers does not appear to be any Turkish invention.
Although Turkey obtains huge benefits from the transit of ships through the Bosphorus, it can also compensate for any bottlenecks through the network of oil pipelines. The insurers themselves are making a killing with the coverage of risks derived from the war, which are added to the usual ones, related to accidental spills or collisions.
Finally, it should be remembered that the supply of Ukrainian grain at an affordable price, destined for various international markets -with Spain in the first place- is the result of the agreement mediated with Moscow and Kyiv by Turkey and the United Nations. This same Friday, representatives of Russia and the United States would have met in Istanbul, according to the TASS agency, with the war in Ukraine on the agenda.
