On a sandy beach in the pretty Suffolk town of Southwold, where holidaymakers and retired second-home owners bask in summer heat while waves lap gently against the shore, most residents are unaware of the trade in Russian oil happening just on the horizon.
This calm patch of sea is one of the few areas around the UK where ship-to-ship transfers of oil are allowed.
At least twice in May, British-crewed vessels sped out from nearby harbours to help transfer Russian oil between vast tankers, an investigation by Global Witness andThe Independent has found.
After refuelling, the two tankers carried 165,000 tonnes of Russian fuel oil – worth more than £165m – onwards to the Persian Gulf and Singapore.
The transfers are one link in an international chain that has helped Vladimir Putin rapidly shift sales of oil to Asia as European buyers cut back.
Booming trade with China and India has helped to swell the Kremlin’s coffers to an unprecedented level, providing a multi-billion-dollar war chest for a protracted and bloody conflict in Ukraine.
The exact number of transfers of Russian oil that have taken place off Britain’s coast is not known. They are not illegal, and there is nothing stopping British companies from taking part, but they are an indication of huge holes in Western sanctions.
Last month, in a tacit admission that current sanctions have not been as effective as hoped, G7 leaders announced a proposal to impose a price cap on the amount that can be paid for Russian oil. The hope is that it will stem the flow of cash to the Kremlin, which has been boosted by a surge in oil prices since the invasion of Ukraine began.
However, experts warn that without a comprehensive crackdown on European boats and companies moving Russian oil, those efforts will continue to be undermined.
Global shipping is among the most opaque and least accountable industries in the world, creating obstacles to Western efforts to turn the screw on Putin. By definition, much of it happens beyond the reach of individual nation states.
The oil transfers identified by Global Witness involved UK boats but took place outside UK territorial waters. Two of the tankers involved are owned by German companies; one is flagged in Liberia. Greek and Maltese companies manage two of the tankers while a third has its “commercial operator” registered in Monaco.
The tankers’ ultimate owners are hidden behind anonymous shell companies making them impossible to identify with any certainty. Veils of secrecy mean they have little fear of reputational damage from the Russian connection.
In fact, as other, more image-conscious firms shun Russian oil, profit margins only grow fatter for those willing to stay the course.
Europe’s three major shipping countries – Greece, Cyprus and Malta – have doubled the amount of Russian oil they transport since the war began.
Meanwhile, British firms at the Southwold “pit stop” have played their own small part.
A workboat called the Endeavour went out from Lowestoft to meet tankers carrying Russian fuel oil
In early May, two vast oil tankers, the Conti Benguela and Matilda left a terminal north of St Petersberg.
Laden with thousands of tonnes of Russian oil, they sailed through the Baltic Sea, around Denmark to the coast off Suffolk, where calm seas create a spot popular with tankers to drop anchor.
A little before dusk on May 13, the two ships’ hulls drew side-by-side, tracking data shows.
Documents filed with the coastguard detail the plan. A British company called STS Marine Transfers had been well-briefed about the transfer weeks in advance by the ships’ operators. The firm sent a boat out to move 14,000 tonnes of fuel oil from Conti Benguela to Matilda.
The quiet English coastal town of Southwold has been used a ‘pitstop’ for refuelling oil tankers
Southwold Mayor Will Windell says ship-to-ship oil transfers are causing environmental damage to the Suffolk coastline, which is designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
