Reuters Report on Iran’s ‘Hidden Methods’ for Selling Fuel Oil While Circumventing US Sanctions

The Reuters news agency has reported on Iran’s “hidden methods” for selling fuel oil while bypassing American sanctions.

Fuel oil represents a significant portion of Iran’s oil and petroleum product revenues.

According to the Ministry of Oil statistics, Iran exported 18.7 billion liters of fuel oil last year. The value of this volume of fuel oil exports reaches over 8 billion dollars.

Following the US withdrawal from the JCPOA and the imposition of oil sanctions in November, Iran’s problems with loading, insuring tankers, selling, and receiving payment for fuel oil began just like crude oil. Previously, reports had been published about Iran resorting to various methods for exporting crude oil, but Reuters, in a report published on Wednesday, February 18, writes that Iran has secretly sent at least two tankers with large fuel oil shipments to Asia while “circumventing” American sanctions.

The report states that tanker documents indicate that the source of the fuel oil shipments was Iraq, but assessments from Iraqi industrial and official sources, as well as an Emirati tanker services company, suggest that the actual source of the fuel oil was Iran.

These sources said they do not know who was behind the forged documents.

Official shipping documents state that the 300,000-ton tanker “Grace 1” loaded fuel oil from the Iraqi port of Basra on December 10-12. However, Reuters writes that this tanker was not present in the port of Basra during those dates, and the tanker’s presence at this port was not recorded.

Reuters also posed questions to four major international tanker tracking companies, and all confirmed that the tanker “Grace 1” turned off its signaling system from November 30 to December 14, and consequently remained hidden from tracking radars during this period. However, this tanker was suddenly spotted on November 14 at Assaluyeh port while being loaded.

The tanker then went to the UAE and discharged its cargo to two other tankers, one of which arrived in Singapore last month. The volume of cargo that arrived in Singapore was 284,000 tons with a value of approximately 120 million dollars.

Iranian officials and Singapore’s customs authorities avoided answering Reuters’ questions.

The tanker “Grace 1” belonged to Singapore-based shipping company “I-Ship Management” which operates under the Panamanian flag, meaning it is registered in Panama.

Previously, reports had been published about Iranian tankers using the Panamanian flag to circumvent sanctions, and Reuters reported on March 14 that under US pressure, Panama removed at least 21 Iranian tankers that were operating under its flag in international waters from its ship registry. It has been reported that Iran is now trying to replace the Panamanian flag with flags from other countries such as Vietnam.

The Singapore company refused to provide explanations to Reuters about the fuel oil cargo.

The report states that Iran has reverted to previous methods used to circumvent sanctions (2012-2016) to counter American oil sanctions; such as turning off tankers’ signaling systems and using flags from other countries.

The tanker “Grace 1” discharged its cargo on January 16 and 22 to two smaller tankers at Fujairah port in the UAE. One of the tankers headed to “Crete Singapore” port. Another tanker named “Marshal Z” also headed in the same direction, but changed course in mid-February and on February 25 discharged its cargo to a Libyan tanker in the same area, and this cargo also eventually reached Singapore.

Three Iraqi oil industry sources and the UAE-based “Yacht International” company, which provides tanker services, confirmed that the fuel oil source mentioned was not Iraq and the documents are “forged.”

Peter Kiernan from the “Economist Intelligence Unit” says there are customers who, despite American sanctions, still wish to trade with Iran, and the Islamic Republic also finds ways to sell some of its oil and petroleum products to them.

Official documents show that the mentioned tanker approached Iranian ports for generator repairs and then headed to the UAE, but Reuters writes that this information apparently serves as cover for loading fuel oil from Iranian ports.

Official documents also show that Iraq’s National Tanker Company asked this ship to load more than 284,000 tons of Iraqi fuel oil, but officials of Iraq’s National Tanker Company told Reuters that these documents are “forged” and the information is completely incorrect.

The documents also mention the loading period as December 10-12, but mention the shipment time from Basra port as January 12, which is unusual.

Source: Radio Farda