Tanker owners in Europe are shipping as much Russian crude as possible before energy sanctions against Moscow take effect in December.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, Western nations have pledged to wean themselves off crude from Moscow and looming sanctions have raised fears among European processors and shipowners of being blacklisted for handling the fuel.

Shipments to Asia, meanwhile, have soared. China nearly doubled its Russian crude intake to an average of 1.13 million barrels a day in June, from 670,000 barrels a day in February, according to energy data provider Vortexa. India brought in roughly one million barrels a day last month, from essentially zero in the first two months of this year.

“Based on that trend it looks feasible that Russia could export all the available crude without American or European Union buyers,” said David Wech, Vortexa’s chief economist.

Greek tanker owners, who control nearly a third of the global fleet, moved about half of Russian crude volumes in May and June, according to brokers. Lloyd’s List Intelligence estimates that over those two months, Greek-operated vessels made 151 calls at Russian ports in the Black and Baltic seas, compared with 89 calls in the year-earlier period.

Greek tankers are also sailing as far as Siberia, a traditional preserve of Chinese and Russian shipowners. The Kriti Legend, which is owned and operated by Avin International, arrived July 12 at the port of Laizhou in China after lifting crude from Kozmino in Russian Siberia, according to maritime data provider MarineTraffic. Avin didn’t return a request for comment.

The EU sanctions will come into effect on Dec. 5 and call for a ban of Russian oil shipments to Europe. Shipments outside the continent by tanker operators won’t be banned, but the vessels won’t be able to get insurance coverage, making any sailings illegal under international maritime law.

The long runway before the shipment ban is meant to give enough time for governments to switch to alternative energy sources outside Russia, according to EU officials.