Wright says sanctioned tankers can return to legal oil trade after US approval

About 200 of the world's 928 very large crude carriers are currently under sanctions, according to AGBI, citing shipping analysts.

US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said investors can buy and refurbish sanctioned tankers to carry non-sanctioned crude once they clear an approval process. He stressed the vessels must return to legitimate commercial operations, not simply have sanctions lifted.

The approval runs through the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, which reviews each vessel separately and can approve a sale and lift sanctions if a legitimate buyer wants to put it back into commercial use, Reuters reported, as carried by Marine Insight. Getting those licenses typically takes months, if not years, an industry source told Reuters, according to Carrier Management.

The global fleet of very large crude carriers totals 928 ships, with roughly 200 currently under sanctions and off-limits to mainstream oil companies and traders, AGBI reported, citing shipping analysts. Freight rates from the Atlantic to the Pacific Basin topped $38 a barrel on October 7, up 130% in a month, according to Vortexa data cited by AGBI. Energy Aspects told Euromaidan Press the easing plan followed those record rates, which climbed after the Iran and Ukraine wars pushed up shipping costs. Kpler analysts told Reuters, as reported by Carrier Management, that lifting sanctions would do little to ease the tanker crunch, since removing a sanction does not automatically make a ship commercially available. Energy Aspects, via Marine Insight, said most sanctioned tankers linked to Russia or Venezuela had kept trading anyway over the past three months, and that easing restrictions might free up only a small number of vessels for short shuttle runs through the Strait of Hormuz. Forward freight agreements, contracts that let traders bet on future freight rates, fell on the news, Carrier Management reported.

The move extends the logic of the diesel exemption already applied to Russian shipments into the wider shadow fleet, opening a legal route back into the market for tonnage that sanctions had sidelined, a structural shift in supply rather than a one-off waiver. It comes alongside separate steps to loosen fuel and crude logistics ahead of winter: the Energy Department has sought an exchange of up to 17 million barrels from the strategic reserve, following a 40-million-barrel exchange offer in September and a 4-million-barrel emergency exchange this month.