A confiscation order has been issued for the oil tanker Eventin and some 100,000 metric tons of oil aboard it, the German news magazine Spiegel reported on Friday.

If confirmed, the order means that the vessel and its cargo, worth some €40 million ($43.3 million), would become German property.

What we know about the Eventin

The ship's presence, floating in the Baltic Sea near the island of Rügen, had sparked environmental concerns about the danger of a potential oil spill.

The vessel had been traveling from Russia to Egypt when it was held for investigation by German authorities in January.

The news magazine reported that authorities were determining how best to safely pump crude oil from the tanker, and deciding what to do with the vessel. Officials confirmed only that the ship was prohibited from continuing its journey.

"Customs measures are currently underway and, given the current security situation, we cannot comment very extensively on the matter," a finance ministry spokesman said.

Security analysts say Russia is operating hundreds of vessels to get around the sanctions imposed on its oil exports over its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

What Berlin and Moscow say

The German Foreign Office declined to comment in detail on the matter given the current security situation, referring to high Russian-Western tensions over the war in Ukraine. "Customs measures are currently underway," an official said.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Friday told the Reuters news agency that Moscow said it had no information about the ship and no knowledge about its owner or reasons for its seizure.

Editor: Sean Sinico