CORDELIA MOON

General information

Course/Position

Latest news

Fate of tanker with sanctioned Russian unclear

The 'Cordelia Moon' was still anchored in the Gulf of Kutch in pos., 22° 33' N 069° 40' E as of Feb 17.The tanker, listed as owned by a company in the Seychelles and managed from India, has been known to be in the Russian oil trade, finding itself caught in the expanding reach of the U.S. sanctions imposed by the Biden administration against Russia. The vessel had arrived off Vadinar Port on Feb 9, but was denied docking rights to unload. The vessel is laden with approximately one million barrels Russian oil from Surgutneftegaz in Novorossiysk from Jan 10-12. India has decided not to receive cargoes or ships that have been sanctioned, if they were loaded after Jan 10. India had previously turned away Russian cargoes due to Western pressures and recently China’s Shandong Port Group also said it would not be accepting sanctioned tankers. It is unclear what is going to happen with the' Cordelia Moon'. The tanker was bound for Suez after having offloaded its cargo in India when the Houthis targeted the ship on Oct 1, 2024. The tanker’s captain told the authorities that in the first wave of attacks, they spotted several splashes. The Houthis claimed a launch of eight missiles and one drone against the tanker. During the second attack, the vessel’s port ballast tank was punctured. After completing repairs, the tanker was transiting the Bosphorus bound for Russia for its next cargo when it suffered engine trouble. The Bosporus was closed on Dec 26 by the ship. The Turkish authorities stepped in and towed it to an anchorage for repairs, which lasted until Jan 4.

Tanker disabled off Yeniköy

On Dec 26, 2024, the 'Cordelia Moon' suffered an engine failure, en route from Yalova to Novorossyisk, in front of Yeniköy during the transit of the Bosphorus, causing disruptions in both the northbound and southbound traffic. The Istanbul Vessel Service (VTS) Center coordinated the efforts to secure the vessel. The three tugs 'Kutarma 8', 'Kurtarma 10' and 'Kurtarma 11' were dispatched under the coordination of the Istanbul VTS Center to tow the disabled tanker to the Ahırkapı Anchorage, where it was safely moored in pos. 40° 59' N 028° 57' N. Ship traffic in the Bosphoruswas temporarily halted to manage the disabled crude oil tanker. Vidoe: https://x.com/i/status/1872282872931115191

Tanker with cargo from sanctioned Russianproduceridling off India

The 'Cordelia Moon', carrying crude from a Russian producer that was recently sanctioned by the US has been floating off West Coast of India for two days, raising a question about whether authorities in the south Asian country will allow the vessel to deliver its cargo. The tanker originally planned to discharge at Vadinar on Feb. 9, 2025, after loading about one million barrels of Urals crude oil in Novorossiysk from Jan. 10-12. The owner of the cargo was Surgutneftegas, one of the two Russian producers sanctioned by the US on Jan. 10, The shipment marks the first observed arrival of Surgutneftegas barrels that loaded after the cutoff imposed by the US Office of Foreign Assets Control. At least four more tankers were expected to arrive in coming days or weeks and another with oil from Gazprom Neft, the other producer sanctioned by the US, was also on the way. India’s oil secretary Pankaj Jain said that cargoes from sanctioned entities wouldn’t be accepted if they loaded after Jan. 10. He said he was unaware of the 'Cordelia Moon', which is not among 161 oil tankers that got blacklisted by the Office of Foreign Assets Control.