Company DigestCompaniesLast updated: 23 February 2024

Sovcomflot and 14–15 Tankers Added to the U.S. SDN List on February 23, 2024: The Company's Statement on Operational Difficulties and Its Communication With the Market

On February 23, 2024, the United States included PJSC Sovcomflot (ПАО «Совкомфлот») in the SDN List together with 14–15 of the company's tankers. Commenting on the designation, Sovcomflot (Совкомфлот) told the market that it expected operational difficulties to arise, and continued to address investors and counterparties through its corporate communications channel. The February 2024 listing was later followed by a broader U.S. sanctions package of January 10, 2025 against 69 vessels, including 54 oil tankers and 4 LNG carriers, while the company's own press releases and corporate messages on results and operating activity remain published on its website.

Ocean-going tanker sailing in open water

The United States includes Sovcomflot and its tankers in the SDN List

ST. PETERSBURG, February 23, 2024 — The United States included PJSC Sovcomflot (ПАО «Совкомфлот») in the SDN List (список SDN) together with 14–15 tankers of the company. The decision of February 23, 2024 placed the shipping company itself, and not only individual vessels, on the U.S. list of specially designated nationals and blocked persons: inclusion in the SDN List is a blocking-sanctions measure that restricts dealings with the designated party. The principal parameters of the decision, as reported, are as follows:

date of the designation: February 23, 2024;
designated company: PJSC Sovcomflot (ПАО «Совкомфлот»);
vessels included alongside the company: 14–15 of its tankers;
the company's comment: operational difficulties are expected to arise.

The company's statement: operational difficulties

In its comment on the designation, Sovcomflot stated that operational difficulties would arise for the company as a consequence of the inclusion in the SDN List. The statement was addressed to the market and to investors: rather than leaving the sanctions event uncommented, the company put its own assessment of the consequences on the record on the day the listing became known. The wording chosen by the company — operational difficulties — framed the designation as a challenge to the day-to-day running of the shipping business rather than as a stop to it.

The comment of February 23, 2024 remains the company's principal public reaction to the designation as reported: Sovcomflot acknowledged the sanctions event, named its expected effect in operational terms and left the market with the company's own description of the situation instead of third-party interpretations alone.

How Sovcomflot communicated the situation to the market

The communication sequence around the designation followed the company's established corporate disclosure practice:

February 23, 2024 — the company comments on the inclusion in the SDN List and states that operational difficulties are expected to arise;
the statement is addressed to the market and investors as the company's own assessment of the sanctions event;
corporate messages, press releases and media materials continue to be published on the company's website, including messages on results and operating activity.

Corporate announcements, press releases and media materials of Sovcomflot are published on the company's website at https://www.sovcomflot.ru/, which serves as the company's channel for statements to the market.

Context: the January 2025 sanctions package against vessels

The designation of Sovcomflot and its tankers was followed, in January 2025, by a broader U.S. sanctions package directed at shipping. On January 10, 2025, U.S. sanctions were introduced against 69 vessels, including 54 oil tankers and 4 LNG carriers. The package extended sanctions pressure across the tanker segment in which the February 2024 designation of Sovcomflot had been an early step. The composition of the January 2025 package, as reported, stands as follows:

vessels covered by the sanctions of January 10, 2025: 69;
of which oil tankers: 54;
of which LNG carriers: 4.

Read together, the two events describe a sanctions track that began with the listing of a named shipping company and part of its fleet on February 23, 2024 and continued with a vessel-by-vessel package of January 10, 2025 covering dozens of tankers and gas carriers.

The corporate communication channel after the designation

After the inclusion in the SDN List, the company's press-release channel remained the way in which Sovcomflot speaks to the market: corporate messages on results and on operating activity are published among the company's press releases, and the statement on operational difficulties of February 23, 2024 sits in the same communication line. For readers of the company's disclosures, this means that the sanctions comment and the regular corporate reporting are published side by side on the same corporate channel.