Iran’s largest crude-export terminal is poised to receive its first internationally owned tanker in a month, ending an absence caused by European Union curbs on insuring ships that extended to almost all the fleet.
The Ryuho Maru, now insured by the Japanese state will arrive at Kharg Island. The signals are entered by vessels’ captains. A non-Iranian tanker last called on June 19th 2012. All tankers calling since then have been operated by Tehran based NITC. It was the first such 4 week period since at least the start of the year when the only vessels to go to Kharg Island were controlled by NITC.
According to Dahlman Rose & Company, the ban by the 27 nation EU extends to insuring vessels carrying Iranian oil and the concentration of the maritime insurance industry in London means the curbs apply to almost all tankers. NITC has too few carriers to haul all of Iran’s exports. Shipments by OPEC’s second biggest producer are at 1 million barrels a day or less, more than 50 percent below last year’s average.
Mr Miswin Mahesh London based commodities analyst at Barclays said that “This is a good indicator of how effective the European embargo has been in impacting Iranian crude exports, especially on the shipping insurance front. It also suggests Iran’s own fleet is now close to full utilization.”
Twenty six of 39 NITC tankers tracked by Bloomberg signaled destinations in the past week, compared with 25 that did so in the same period to July 11th 2012. Fourteen of the 26 are bound for Iranian ports, three for China, two for Egypt and 2 more for India.
The US Treasury Department said that it would block transactions through the country’s financial system involving NITC and 27 affiliated entities. Government-linked NITC is trying to evade sanctions by repainting or reflagging its ships and disabling tracking gear.
India, Iran’s third largest buyer, asked the Persian Gulf country to arrange to transport and insure its cargoes. Iran offered to do the same for South Korea after the Asian nation said it would have to halt shipments because of Western sanctions. China’s largest ship owner said it lacks government guarantees to ship Iranian oil.
Source - Bloomberg
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