The US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced on 18 January, that it has targeted Dubai-based Hennesea Tankers for what it said was a violation of the Group of 7-agreed US$60/bbl cap on crude oil.

Hennesea Tankers is the United Arab Emirates second-largest beneficial tanker owner, with interests in a fleet of 18 vessels. 

One of the vessels in the fleet and on the US sanctions list, Aframax tanker Peria, blocked traffic in the Bosphorus Strait that runs through Istanbul, Turkey, for more than eight hours on 21 January. The vessel was reportedly in transit between Russia and the Turkish port of Izmir.

Turkey’s general directorate of coastal safety (KEGM) posted about the disruption on X (formerly Twitter)

Via automated translation, KEGM said, “While travelling from Russia to Izmir, the tanker named Peria anchored in the Bosphorus Keçilik Bay location; Bosphorus ship traffic is temporarily suspended in both directions. The ship is responded to by our organisation’s tugboats and rescue boats.”

KEGM later posted it was planning to reopen the key shipping route to traffic at 20:00 on 21 January and finally that Peria had been taken to port. 

“Peria is under the co-ordination of our Istanbul Ship Traffic Services Center; our Pilot was safely anchored at Küçükçekmece Anchorage, accompanied by our Kurtarma-7 and Kurtarma-17 tugboats,” KEGM said.

The US Treasury’s OFAC website said the vessels owned by Hennesea had “repeatedly conducted port calls in Russian Federation ports”.

United Arab Emirates-based shipping company Hennesea Holdings Limited (Hennesea) is the ultimate owner of 18 vessels, including the HS Atlantica, which OFAC previously identified as having engaged in the transport of crude oil of Russian Federation origin priced above the US$60 per barrel price cap while using a covered US-based provider after the price cap policy came into effect. On 1 December 2023, OFAC identified HS Atlantica as property in which Hennesea’s subsidiary, US-designated HS Atlantica Limited, has an interest. Today, OFAC is additionally re-identifying HS Atlantica as property in which Hennesea has an interest.”

The US Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo said “No one should doubt our coalition’s commitment to stopping those who help the Kremlin.”