Three Danish companies play a crucial role in helping Russia circumvent sanctions against the country's oil trade.
Experts assess this based on a mapping of the companies' activities carried out by Dagbladet Information in collaboration with DanWatch.
These are the companies SDK Shipping, Saga Shipping and L&N Supply Ships. SDK Shipping is owned by businessman Torben Østergaard-Nielsen and his two daughters through the family company USTC Group.
The family business is best known to the public for owning Dan-Bunkering, which in 2021 was convicted of violating sanctions when the company had sold jet fuel that ended up in Russian fighter jets in Syria, and for its ownership of Nordic Waste, which last year was behind a major landslide with contaminated soil.
At least 59 ships from the Russian shadow fleet have been serviced by the three companies in 2024, according to Danwatch and Informations research, which is based on online ship data. The ships are not directly subject to sanctions. But in at least one case, a ship has been subject to sanctions just days after trading with one of the three companies.
Expert: Counterproductive signal
The Danish companies provide services such as provisions and fuel and help bring new crew members to the ships of the Russian shadow fleet while they are anchored near Skagen. The anchorage near Skagen is often the last stop before the ships sail out into the world with a cargo full of Russian oil. In this way, the three companies help Russia circumvent Western sanctions against Russian oil trade, experts assess.
- The Danish companies help maintain the Russian fleet, and ultimately they help facilitate the Russian economy's continued growth, says Flemming Splidsboel Hansen, senior researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS) to Danwatch and Information.
Amalie Korning Wedege is a project manager at Boston Consulting Group's Risk & Compliance office and former head of international trade sanctions at Danske Bank. According to her, it sends "a counterproductive signal if companies choose to facilitate the transit of ships from the shadow fleet in Danish waters."
Two companies acknowledge collaboration
Two of the companies acknowledge that they have serviced ships from the list of 59 ships, but add that they stay within the sanctions. The third, L&N Supply Ships, does not want to answer questions. It can be difficult to identify ships from the Russian shadow fleet, says Saga Shipping CEO Peter Møller.
"These ships try to obscure their behavior and relationships, which makes it difficult to track down and understand the violation of sanctions for both authorities and private actors," he writes.
USTC Group writes in an email that they do not trade with ships that are subject to sanctions:
"We comply with all applicable regulations, while all customer relationships and services provided are subject to ongoing follow-up compliance checks," says USTC's press officer.
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