Another Russian Shadow Fleet Oil Tanker Runs Into Difficulties

An oil tanker that’s under sanction for its role in transporting Russian oil appears to have run into trouble off the coast of Algeria and is now drifting in the Mediterranean Sea, according to tracking data compiled by Bloomberg.

The LR2-class vessel Progress was sailing east along the North African coast toward the Suez Canal, carrying a cargo of about 730,000 barrels of Russia’s flagship Urals crude. After passing Algiers on Wednesday afternoon, the vessel abruptly turned north and left the shipping lanes. In the early hours of Thursday, its navigation status changed to “Not under command,” and its speed fell to about one knot, the data show.