Eight Greek companies are among the leading transporters of Russian oil – Financial Times
Over the past three years, Greek shipping companies have earned at least $3.8 billion in revenue from transporting Russian oil, despite the restrictions imposed by the Group of Seven (G7) to curb the Kremlin’s oil revenues.
According to Financial Times estimates, Dynacom Tankers, founded by Greek shipping billionaire George Prokopiou, generated the most revenue. It earned at least $915 million, accounting for nearly a quarter of all revenue generated by Greek shipowners from transporting Russian oil since July 2023.
Second place went to Olympic Shipping and Management, part of the Onassis Group. Its profits from such shipments are estimated at at least $404 million. Two other Greek companies—Stealth Maritime and Polembros Shipping—each earned more than $200 million.
According to the FT, the estimate is based on the transport of 389 million barrels of Russian oil for which cargo value data was available. Another 153 million barrels were not included due to a lack of pricing information, so actual revenues may be even higher.
In 2023, Ukraine added several Greek companies, including Dynacom, to its list of international sponsors of the war, but later removed them due to pressure from the Greek government.
According to Windward and Vortexa, in May, Greek companies accounted for about 15% of Russian oil exports, and shipping rates for Russian oil were 30–40% higher than for oil from countries not subject to sanctions.
At the same time, the transport of Russian oil remains legal provided that the price “cap” of $44.10 per barrel set by the G7 countries is observed, although, according to the FT, enforcement of these restrictions is infrequent.
Meanwhile, Western countries are considering tightening sanctions, which could limit Greek companies’ involvement in this business. Some shipping operators have already scaled back their cooperation with Russia following new U.S. sanctions, while the companies themselves claim that all shipments were carried out in accordance with current international sanctions.
This was reported by the Financial Times.
As a reminder, global oil prices fell by nearly 1% as of July 2 following Qatar’s announcement of progress in indirect talks between the U.S. and Iran regarding the situation surrounding the Strait of Hormuz.
Citigroup forecasts that the price of Brent could drop to $60 per barrel, as the situation with shipments through the Strait of Hormuz gradually stabilizes and the market is once again discussing an oil surplus.
