Russian oil tanker enroute to SA despite boycott calls
A tanker loaded with 2m barrels of Russian oil is steaming towards a storage facility in SA amid mounting international pressure to boycott Russian exports.
The ship is due to arrive in Saldanha, home to a huge Strategic Fuel Fund store built 40 years ago to prop up the apartheid regime.
Another tanker of Russian oil, also scheduled to call at Saldanha, changed course this week and continued around Cape Agulhas, heading east.
The Sunday Times reports that the two ships and many others carrying Russian oil are being closely monitored as Moscow’s economy takes strain after its invasion of Ukraine.
The EU last week urged members to join a restriction on Russian oil imports, but SA has opted to remain neutral in the conflict.
President Cyril Ramaphosa says this provides an opportunity to mediate.
Russia’s seaborne oil shipments have fallen 14% in the past week. DA spokesperson Kevin Mileham said in light of Russia’s ‘pariah status’, SA should not be helping Moscow.
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