Russia Is Now Sending Its Main Crude Oil Through the Arctic
- Shipping through Arctic’s northern sea route doubled in 2018
- The Arctic lost around 40% of its ice area since 1979
Deck at the Mendeleev Prospect oil tanker operated by Sovcomflot moored at the Primorsk Commercial Seaport, the end point of the Baltic Pipeline System.
Photographer: Alexander Ryumin/TASS/Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
Russia is sending its main crude oil through the Arctic Sea for the first time as melting ice increasingly opens up the controversial trade route to commercial shipping.
Two oil tankers, between them carrying about 1.5 million barrels of Urals crude from the port of Primorsk in western Russia, sailed through the Arctic ocean to China in recent weeks, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. It’s the first time that’s happened since at least 2011, according to the Northern Sea Route Information Office.