The US has opened a new licensing route for buyers seeking to acquire blocked vessels under its sanctions programmes, according to an October 28 statement from the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.
The Statement of Licensing Policy on Authorizing Persons to Purchase Blocked Vessels has been placed under OFAC’s Russia-related and counterterrorism sanctions programmes.
OFAC lists the measure as licensing-policy guidance rather than a general licence. Its specific licensing system allows applicants to seek approval for transactions that would otherwise be prohibited.
The move formalises an approval route outlined earlier by US Energy Secretary Chris Wright for investors seeking to buy idled sanctioned tankers, refurbish them and return them to commercial service carrying non-sanctioned oil. Wright said on October 19 that vessels using the process would no longer carry sanctioned oil.
“We are converting dark tankers to legitimate tankers,” he said. “There is no removing of sanctions.” Wright estimated the global dark fleet at about 1,600 sanctioned tankers and said the process could ultimately return “dozens” or “hundreds” of vessels to legitimate trading.
European Union and UK restrictions would continue to apply independently, including measures affecting marine insurers.
OFAC is an office of the US Treasury Department responsible for administering and enforcing US economic and trade sanctions. It issues general licences covering defined categories of transactions and considers applications for specific licences covering transactions that would otherwise be prohibited.
