Ships in the Singapore Strait.
Photographer: Henning Gloystein/ReutersMarkets Magazine
From Oil Trades to Defense, Singapore’s US-China Balancing Act Gets Trickier
In energy, as in geopolitics, the island nation prioritizes commerce while trying to stay in the good graces of the US and China.
One afternoon in May, an oil tanker called the Pablo made its way through the South China Sea. Owned by an obscure company in the Marshall Islands, it was 26 years old, ancient by industry standards, and according to global databases, it carried no insurance—telltale signs that it was part of what’s become known as the “dark fleet.”
Ever since Russia invaded Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin’s regime has relied on hundreds of decrepit, hard-to-trace ships like this one to evade US and European Union restrictions designed to keep it from profiting from the world’s oil markets.