The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has imposed sanctions on three third-party companies involved in transporting Russian crude oil above the G7 price cap, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said in a report.

OFAC announced on December 1 that it imposed sanctions on two United Arab Emirates-based and one Liberian-based shipping companies that own vessels that carried Russian crude oil above $70 barrel after the G7's $60 price cap took effect in December 2022.

Institute analysts believe that Russia relies on a "shadow fleet" of oil tankers without insurance from Western countries to skirt the G7's price cap on Russian crude oil and petroleum products.