The crude oil market is adapting quickly to the new sanctions against Russia's shadow fleet of tankers, albeit by creating both short- and medium-term winners and losers.

Millions of barrels of oil that would normally be preserve of oil refineries in Europe are instead heading to Asia as US sanctions on Russia revive one of the market’s great arbitrage trades.

Trade for March-loading Russian oil in top buyer Asia has stalled as a wide price gap between buyers and sellers emerged in China after costs for chartering tankers unaffected by U.S. sanctions jumped,

Russia has continued to send cargoes of crude oil to India on tankers that have been sanctioned by the US, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday. This situation presents a crucial test of Moscow’s ability to circumvent the stringent sanctions implemented by Washington earlier this month.

In China, there are no buyers for March deliveries of oil from Russia after new American sanctions on Russia's "shadow fleet" led to increased tanker transport costs, which were not covered by these sanctions,

As reported by Reuters, these sanctions have already had tangible effects. The main recipients of Russian oil, China and India, have suspended purchases from Russia because the de

China and India have stopped trading in Russian oil as US sanctions have caused a sharp rise in tariffs for tanker freight. Source: Reuters Details: According to traders and shipping companies, the trade in Russian oil that was loaded in March has stopped in Asia as a large price gap between buyers and sellers has emerged in China.