Three tankers with Russian Sokol oil that had been stranded at sea due to payment problems and Western sanctions have started to move towards China and India, data from Kpler and LSEG showed on Monday.
The backlog of Sokol tankers has become the biggest disruptions to Russia's oil trade since the West imposed sanctions on Moscow over its military actions in Ukraine.
More than 10 million barrels of Sokol have been floating in seaborne storage over the past three months due to payment difficulties and Western sanctions on shipping firms and vessels carrying the crude.
The three vessels - NS Century, NS Commander and Nellis - that had been sitting at sea since November - have finally moved, according to the data and traders. Russian state oil major Rosneft (ROSN.MM) - the main exporter of the Sokol grade - did not respond to Reuters queries on Sokol oil sales.
NS Century and Nellis are carrying a combined 2.2 million barrels of Sokol to Chinese ports, according to data analytics firm Kpler. Both tankers are subject to fresh U.S. sanctions for breaching a $60 per barrel price cap on Russian oil.
Two trading sources told Reuters the buyers were private Chinese refiners. The traders declined to be named as the information is not public and did not name the buyers.
"China might be the solution to the problem (with Sokol sales) as at least two tankers that have been idling since November started moving towards Chinese territorial waters," Viktor Katona, head of crude analysis at Kpler, said.
The Gabon-flagged tanker NS Commander, not subject to U.S. sanctions, with some 600,000 barrels of Sokol oil onboard was heading towards Jamnagar port in India, according to Kpler and LSEG data.
Some 7.5 million barrels of Sokol remained stuck at sea as of Monday, according to Kpler, down from over 10 million barrels two weeks earlier.
