Tanker Belonging to American Company Accused of ‘Illegal Transportation of Iranian Oil’
A tanker belonging to a company registered in Los Angeles, United States, has been accused of cooperating in the “illegal transportation of Iranian oil” and violating U.S. sanctions against the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The Associated Press reported on Thursday, February 17, that the “Coalition Against a Nuclear Iran” group, in a letter dated Tuesday, accused the American investment company Octriv of involvement in the illegal transfer of crude oil belonging to the Islamic Republic of Iran through a tanker under its ownership.
This American corporate giant, with assets reaching $160 billion, announced on Thursday that it is cooperating with U.S. government investigations on this matter.
According to the Associated Press, aerial images from the “Coalition Against a Nuclear Iran” show that the tanker belonging to this American company was positioned in Singapore alongside another tanker said to be carrying Iranian oil.
Iran uses this method to circumvent sanctions and transfer oil cargo from one tanker to another to obscure the source and destination of exported oil.
Fleetscape, a subsidiary of Octriv and owner of the tanker “Suez Rajan,” stated in a letter to Reuters that the company uses best practices in its operations to comply with American sanctions laws and takes any report of non-compliance with sanctions seriously, and will provide necessary cooperation in U.S. government investigations on this matter.
The United States is currently engaged in indirect negotiations with Iran, along with other parties to the JCPOA, to revive the nuclear agreement, and reports indicate that these negotiations have made progress.
Ship-tracking companies’ data shows that Iran’s daily crude oil exports over recent months have reached approximately one million barrels per day, three times higher than 2020, with the vast majority of these shipments, after change of ownership, being sent to China as oil from other countries including Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, and Malaysia.
Investigations by the “Coalition Against a Nuclear Iran” show that Iran in January exported 1.447 million barrels per day of crude oil, gas condensates, and petroleum products, with approximately 923,000 barrels destined for China, 106,000 barrels for Syria, and the remainder to unknown destinations.
Ship-tracking data published by this American institution also shows that in December of last year, Iran delivered shipments of oil and petroleum products to Venezuela (68,000 barrels per day) and the United Arab Emirates (44,000 barrels per day), and in total sent 1.318 million barrels per day of crude oil, gas condensates, and petroleum products to international markets, with China’s share of receiving these shipments being approximately 66 percent.
This report states that in November of last year, China alone purchased more than one million barrels per day of Iranian oil, gas condensates, and petroleum products, and Iran in total had daily exports of 1.207 million barrels of crude oil and petroleum products.
Source: Radio Farda
