Reuters investigation into New Zealand insurance company’s shadow fleet contracts

28 October 2025

Reuters has published a special report into a New Zealand based insurance company which, it says, has insured “shadow fleet” tankers – ships which are said to be used to circumvent sanctions on Russian and Iranian oil.

The Reuters investigation says:

• The company provided P&I insurance to owners of tankers said to have breached sanctions, as reported by Reuters and Lloyd’s List in January 2025.

• Reuters compiled a list of tankers the company is said to have insured. Of these, a Finnish thinktank determined 130 vessels had carried Iranian or Russian energy products after sanctions were imposed.

• The tankers covered by the insurance company shipped at least $18.2 billion of Iranian oil and energy products and $16.7 billion of Russian energy products since the sanctions came into force.

• At least one US-sanctioned ship declared it was covered by the company after sanctions were imposed on it. Another vessel is said to have declared it was covered by the company months after it was sanctioned.

Under New Zealand’s sanctions regime, insurance can be provided for the transport of Russian oil if that oil was purchased below the oil price cap, currently set at USD 47.60 per barrel. Reuters did not establish whether the cap had been breached for cargo shipped by entities covered by the insurance company. New Zealand has launched an investigation into the company.