According to Bloomberg, it happened just a few miles off the coast of Greece, in Lakonikos Bay. It was at least 23 million barrels, according to the news agency.
The Greek authorities say they can only intervene to a limited extent because the transfer takes place outside Greek territorial waters.
According to Bloomberg, transferring between tankers off the Greek coast is just one of the examples of circumventing the European embargo against Russian oil and fuels. The same thing happened earlier in the vicinity of Ceuta, the Spanish enclave in North Africa, it sounds. Bloomberg talks about a “shadow fleet” of tankers helping Russia get around the embargo.
Transferring oil at sea from one tanker to another is not without the risk of environmental pollution, according to Bloomberg, while Lakonikos Bay is known for its sea turtles.