Everyone knows how US sanctions negatively affect the global economy. This time, the NS Concept oil tanker, commercially managed by Russia’s Sovcomflot, became a victim. It has to drift in international waters, because US sanctions sent it wildly off-course.

This tanker is one of many left in limbo off the Venezuelan coast. The situation was caused by US sanctions imposed on the country’s oil exports. Some tankers, with as many as two million barrels of oil on board, are waiting in coastal waters. Experts are not sure about the outcome of this situation.

According to economists, increasing US production, reductions in OPEC output, and imposition of sanctions complicate shipping logistics. “The result is a procession of empty supertankers making voyages of as much as 21,000 miles to the US direct from Asia, all the way around South Africa, holding nothing but seawater for stability,” Julian Lee, an oil strategist, notes. He claims that the current situation can bankrupt shipowners and oilmen. Oil tankers earn money when they move briskly from port to port with the cargo. But complex geopolitical factors have made it difficult for them to do so. Owners of tankers forced to veer off course or sit idle for days or weeks, experts says. Moreover, it remains to be seen whether they can shift the costs to producers and refiners. In the future, this may lead to a boost in oil prices, experts believe.

Earlier, the NS Concept tanker headed from Venezuela to Houston, carrying half a million barrels of Venezuelan oil. However, when it arrived at the American port, it became known that the US Treasury Department had imposed sanctions on PDSVA, Venezuela’s state-owned oil company. In this context, the oil unloading became illegal. The tanker spent six days at the port before being turned around and sent back out into the Gulf of Mexico. It moored at the island of Sint Eustatius, near Puerto Rico. There, the oil was transferred to a huge Saudi tanker, Ghazal.

Experts foresee more negative effects from US sanctions in the near future. Not only Venezuela or Iran may suffer from these restrictions, but also other countries. It is possible in a market in which one ship may be tied to three or four countries. Analysts estimate that small nations such as Panama and the Bahamas will benefit from this situation, as they could pull in easy earnings from a tonnage tax and registration fees. For other countries, this could become an intractable problem.