US Authorities Make Checks on Oil Tanker Arriving from Russia

U.S. authorities have stopped an oil tanker traveling from Russia to New Orleans to check whether the product it was carrying was Russian in origin, a source confirmed to Reuters, and a spokesperson for the company that chartered it said it was not.

The Vitol-chartered vessel was shipping intermediate oil products including vacuum gasoil and fuel oil from Russia’s Taman port to New Orleans last week, according to a trading source and shipping data.

The U.S. imposed sanctions on Russian oil products following its invasion of neighbor Ukraine in late February.