️🇺🇸🇦🇪 Bloomberg: Oil traders, including Trafigura, Vitol, Mercuria and Abu Dhabi National Oil Co, are seeking licenses from the US Treasury Department to purchase or lease about 50 of about 1,600 ships that were sanctioned after the US and Israel launched an effort to prevent tankers and curb oil prices in Iran, hovering around $100 a barrel.
The Trump administration is examining requests on a case-by-case basis, with the goal of converting "dark tankers" into legitimate ships that can transport up to 2 million barrels each, while preventing cash flows to bad actors, and the move follows an increase in freight rates that rose to almost $40 per barrel in early October compared to $5 a year earlier.
As of November 4, 2026, 1,568 vessels remain under sanctions, including 462 crude oil tankers, and no final licensing decisions have been announced.