Owners of tankers have become reluctant to offer their vessels to load crude from Russia for fear that their future cargo could be breaching potential sanctions if the West decides to deploy the harshest sanctions against Russia after it invaded Ukraine early on Thursday. Several shipbrokers and tanker owners told Bloomberg on Thursday that they avoid offering their vessels to load Russian crude. Two-thirds of Russia’s crude oil exports are seaborne, from ports in the Black Sea and the Baltic Sea. After Russia invaded Ukraine on Thursday, the United States, the European Union, and the UK vowed to impose another round of sanctions against Moscow. The first round of sanctions, while cutting some Russian banks from international markets and expanding sanctions on trading with Russian sovereign debt, was underwhelming, analysts said. None of the first sanctions announced by the U.S. or the European Union, or the UK, targeted any […]