Shadow Fleet tanker MT Virgo returns after delivering a cargo of Iranian oil on Aug. 24, 2025. The busy shipping lanes in the South China Sea offer a logistical advantage because they are close to buyers in China and India.Remy Osman/Supplied
British expat Remy Osman has a front-row seat from which to watch the growing “shadow fleet” of vessels off Singapore filled with Russian, Iranian or Venezuelan oil in the process of evading Western sanctions.
Mr. Osman, a salesman in the Asian city-state’s food and beverage industry, has built an internet following in his spare time by documenting the passage of tanker ships that in many cases are part of the illicit trade in oil.
From his apartment, armed with a camera and telephoto lens, he identifies and captures photos and videos of these vessels en route to international waters. Once out of local jurisdictions, they sidle up to another ship and transfer their hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil.
Explainer: How a shadow fleet of tankers keeps Russian oil money flowing despite Western sanctions
One day, he documents the Russian oil tanker Krasnoyarsk passing by. It’s under sanctions from the United States, Canada and other countries for helping transport petroleum for Moscow, which is waging a war against Ukraine.
Another day it’s the Virgo, a tanker that’s part of Iran’s shadow fleet and also under U.S. sanctions.
Mr. Osman is helping put video and photo evidence to a phenomenon that shipping analysts have been documenting for some time.
The busy shipping lanes in the South China Sea offshore of Singapore and neighbouring Malaysia are a growing site for ship-to-ship transfers of oil from countries under Western sanctions, offering logistical advantages for shadow fleet vessels.
“It’s kind of a Wild West zone that’s geographically close to where the buyers are likely to be,” Mr. Osman said.
Growth of shadow tanker fleet slows as tightened Western sanctions target Russian oil
“It tends to be sanctioned oil from Iran, Russia and Venezuela. And then it typically tends to be transferred to buyers and shipped out to China or India.”
It’s hard for the ships, which can run as big as 330 metres in length, to evade Mr. Osman’s camera lens as they transit the ocean about 10 to 15 kilometres from his apartment.
But the tremendous number of commercial vessels using these waterways means it’s easier for tankers with illicit oil to blend in among all the traffic.
Transferring the oil from countries under sanctions to another tanker helps obscure the origin, destination and ownership of the cargo. Traders also disperse oil among multiple vessels to reduce the risk of interdiction or seizure by authorities. Sometimes it is mixed with product from countries that are not under sanctions to disguise it.
Mr. Osman, who is now a permanent resident of Singapore, said he first became interested in ship spotting during the pandemic, when he was confined to a hotel for a quarantine period about five years ago. “I had nothing to do but spend hours in my hotel room looking at the sea and taking pictures of the ships.”
British expat Remy Osman has a front-row seat to practices meant to evade sanctions on Russian, Iranian and Venezuelan oil from Western powers.Remy Osman/Supplied
He looks for telltale signs of shadow fleet vessels before taking photos. First, if the AIS (automatic identification system) data being broadcast from the ship is odd – for instance, the ship is supposed to be coming from China but is pointed toward China; and second, if the vessel is flying an unusual flag.
“If it’s got a flag from an unregulated and undeveloped maritime country – if it’s some random African country which doesn’t really have a merchant fleet – that’s usually a good clue,” Mr. Osman said.
The third criteria is whether it’s an older vessel – 15 to 25 years old.
He then runs the ship registration information against Western lists of vessels under sanctions.
In an August brief, shipping intelligence provider Windward described the waters near the Riau archipelago off Singapore and eastern Malaysia as the “epicentre of maritime lawlessness on Asia’s doorstep.” It said that for the past five years the area has been used by dark fleet – another term for shadow fleet – tankers as both a hub for floating storage and for ship-to-ship transfers of oil on sanctions lists.
Windward’s brief said the area is convenient because it serves as a midway point between Iran, Russia or Venezuela and “China, the biggest buyer of crude, with nearby maritime services from Singapore, Malaysia or Indonesia within a day’s sailing.”
In a note to clients that same month, BRS Shipbrokers said Western sanctions by the U.S., the European Union and others may be fuelling the expansion of the “grey fleet,” or vessels engaging in illicit trading. In 2025, it said, some 30 ships per month have shifted from mainstream shipping to the Russian or Iranian market, adding that the fleet now represents 18.2 per cent of global oil tanker tonnage.
John Boscariol, head of McCarthy Tétrault’s international trade and investment law group, said the illicit ship-to-ship transfers demonstrate the limitation of sanctions.
“Everyone can say, ‘Oh, we’ve imposed sanctions on Russia. We’ve listed this shadow fleet,’” he said. “But ultimately, when the shadow fleet doesn’t call at Canadian or other Western ports, or companies that buy from or otherwise support the shadow fleet don’t touch the jurisdiction of the United States, Canada, the EU or Britain, there’s not much that can be done about it.”