December 2023 Iran Tanker Tracking and Year Review
UANI’s final tanker tracker of the year reviews the topline data points for 2023 UANI’s impact, and offers prescriptions for 2024.
2023 Summary: Key Data-points
The free flow of Iranian oil exports is the number one reason keeping the regime financially alive, and 2023 witnessed a big surge despite U.S. sanctions. The increase in Iranian exports comes at a time when OPEC+, which includes Russia and other Iranian allies, is cutting output to support the oil market. As a result of lax enforcement of sanctions by the U.S., Iran has managed to sustain and even increase its oil exports, mainly to China, Syria, and Venezuela.
In 2023, Iran exported 533 million barrels of oil worldwide, compared to 420 million barrels in 2022 — an increase of 27%. This also compares to 406 million barrels in 2021.
Over the three years since the start of the Biden Administration, Iran has exported a total of 1.36 billion barrels of oil.
For the fifth consecutive year since UANI’s Tanker Tracker began, China was the number one recipient of Iranian oil by a distance. It received a total of 441 million barrels of crude oil and gas condensate, up from 313 million barrels in 2022. China therefore accounted for 83% of the total Iranian oil exports. This is significant considering the sharp decline in exports following the U.S. withdrawal from the JCPOA in 2018, when exports fell to as low as 466,000 barrels of Iranian oil during periods of 2020.
The average monthly exports for 2023 was 1.4 million barrels per day, which marks the highest monthly rate since 2018, when sanctions on Iranian oil were lifted as part of the Iran Nuclear Deal (JCPOA).
Syria was again the second biggest importer with a small rise from 2022, while the UAE jumped from fourth to third. In 2023, some Iranian oil barrels were seized by the United States (below, and see “UANI Impact”).
The chart below shows the total number of Iranian barrels exported to each country during 2023 compared to 2022:
|
Country of Destination |
Total Number of Barrels of Iranian Oil Exported in 2023 |
Total Number of Barrels of Iranian Oil Exported in 2022 |
|
China |
441,474,080 |
312,918,650 |
|
Syria |
37,873,632 |
31,560,743 |
|
UAE |
19,381,610 |
11,556,445 |
|
Venezuela |
12,252,038 |
19,956,755 |
|
Indonesia |
1,654,489 |
934,402 |
|
Unknown Destinations |
19,890,346 |
40,608,839 |
|
Total Exports |
532,654,093 |
419,911,667 |
UANI IMPACT
This year marked a significant stride in United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI)’s mission to thwart the illegal smuggling of Iranian oil - a direct source of sustenance for Tehran’s regime. UANI’s tracking – which the Wall Street Journal recently described as “the best public data we have” – uncovered 101 new vessels suspected of smuggling Iranian oil and gas, pivotal in aiding Iran’s regime to illicitly trade over $80 billion worth of oil since President Biden took office.
UANI has provided actionable intelligence to insurers and flag states, stripping these vessels of their certifications, insurance, and flags. In 2023, UANI’s work led to over 180 revocations. Our senior team counsels elected officials, too, and has provided expert testimony on Iran’s sanctions evasion before Congress. In sum, our efforts not only make sanctions evasion a daunting task but also ensure these acts do not go unnoticed by global authorities.
Most crucially, UANI’s identification of sanctioned Iranian oil aboard tanker SUEZ RAJAN led to the May 2023 seizure by the U.S., which offloaded the oil for sale, denying the regime tens of millions of dollars in lost revenues that would have supported its human rights abuses and terrorist proxies like Hamas and Hezbollah.
On February 15, 2022, UANI investigators identified sanctioned Iranian oil being smuggled by the vessel SUEZ RAJAN in the Riau Archipelago, Indonesia. The illicit cargo was delivered to the SUEZ RAJAN by a Panamanian-flagged vessel and repeat offender, VIRGO, via ship-to-ship (STS) transfer. The VIRGO loaded oil from Kharg Island, Iran on January 22, 2022. That same day, UANI identified the illicit STS transfer operation and provided specific details to the vessel owners and operators as well as to the relevant government authorities who immediately launched an investigation. As a result of UANI’s work to identify, trace, and track the tanker, the U.S. Government was able to seize the oil on the Suez Rajan under court order. The vessel arrived offshore at Galveston, Texas on May 29, 2023, to be offloaded and sold. The proceeds of the sale of the oil - $86 million - will now be distributed to terrorism victims and their families via the U.S. Victims of Terror Fund.
The U.S. Department of Justice applauded UANI for its “valuable assistance” in its first-ever criminal resolution involving a company engaged in supporting Iran’s oil smuggling.
PRESCRIPTIONS
Sanction Top “Ghost Armada” Vessels
In 2023, Iran significantly expanded its “ghost armada,” a fleet of foreign-owned, foreign-flagged tankers that are used to evade oil sanctions. This expansion likely occurred due to increased scrutiny on the previous top offending vessels and the revenue Iran gained from lax sanctions enforcement. The fleet, distinct yet complementary to Iran’s official National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC) fleet, employs different tactics to evade detection. The number of vessels in this fleet suspected of illicitly transporting Iranian oil has grown from 70 in 2020 to 383 by the end of December 2023. This expansion indicates a significant increase in Iran’s capacity to transport oil covertly on the global market, contributing to the regime’s economic resilience despite sanctions.
In 2022, the Administration sanctioned 16 vessels. In 2023, the Administration sanctioned 19 vessels (see Appendix). However, the Administration should consider sanctioning those vessels responsible for transporting the largest quantities of Iranian oil – at minimum, the top ten offenders, below:
|
Vessel Name & IMO |
Flag |
Total Number of Barrels Exported (2023) |
Total Number of Barrels Exported (2022) |
|
CAMEROON |
11,674,886 |
7,698,286 |
|
|
PANAMA |
10,287,286 |
13,583,276 |
|
|
SAMOA (FALSE) |
10,027,281 |
13,796,550 |
|
|
PANAMA |
8,327,711 |
0 |
|
|
SAMOA (FALSE) |
7,891,899 |
15,965,712 |
|
|
PANAMA |
7,516,552 |
0 |
|
|
UNKNOWN |
7,478,917 |
9,827,670 |
|
|
PANAMA |
6,121,599 |
5,786,931 |
|
|
PANAMA |
6,080,590 |
0 |
|
|
PANAMA |
6,030,728 |
0 |
Target the Teapot Refineries
It is also clear that the Administration must target the Chinese purchasers of Iranian oil and tankers in earnest. China’s army of “teapot” refineries appear to be importing the vast bulk of Iranian oil. Regrettably, “quiet diplomacy” with Beijing over the import of Iranian oil has failed. As we wrote last year, the U.S. must directly sanction the teapots and any of the banks financing this trade. UANI has written to five of the larger refineries: Shandong Shenxing Chemical; Hengli Petrochemical; Chambroad; Hualong Petroleum, and; Lamen Namu.
Ship-to-Ship Sanctions Evaders
The Administration should look carefully at the long list of foreign-flagged vessels that have engaged in multiple s STS transfers of Iranian oil in 2023 with a view to sanctioning them. The most prolific STS offenders this year were:
|
Vessel Name & IMO |
Flag |
Number of STS Transfers (2023) |
Total Number of Iranian Barrels Carried (2023) |
Number of STS Transfers (2022) |
Total Number of Iranian Barrels Carried (2022) |
|
SAO TOME & PRINCIPE (False) |
8 |
7,991,427 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
PANAMA |
7 |
9,850,224 |
2 |
3,032,704 |
|
|
PANAMA |
7 |
6,905,990 |
3 |
2,959,710 |
|
|
PANAMA |
7 |
3,502,155 |
2 |
1,400,862 |
|
|
PANAMA |
6 |
12,299,016 |
2 |
4,099,672 |
|
|
PANAMA |
5 |
9,831,080 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
MARSHALL ISLANDS |
5 |
5,030,425 |
4 |
3,566,571 |
|
|
PANAMA |
5 |
3,805,290 |
5 |
2,688,791 |
|
|
PANAMA |
5 |
3,439,855 |
5 |
3,958,817 |
|
|
PANAMA |
4 |
8,208,584 |
1 |
1,979,049 |
Seize more Oil Tankers
Bipartisan legislation launched by Senators Ernst and Blumenthal aims to physically interdict oil-carrying tankers. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), responsible for oil seizures, would receive $150 million as “seed money.” Since the largest Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCC) can hold up to $200 million worth of oil, that fund could be replenished after the first interdiction, with additional seized cargo sales put back into the public purse.
This would be a major expansion to the current state of affairs. In recent years, there has been just a single example of a successful U.S. seizure of Iranian oil involving the SUEZ RAJAN tanker. UANI trackers first identified and flagged this vessel for U.S. authorities in February 2022, meaning that even in this best-case scenario, it took a full 18 months to finalize. Although U.S. authorities sought a similar resolution with the vessel LANA, seized by Greece in April 2022, it ultimately failed because of a Greek court decision to release the taker.
There are existing restrictions, as described in a recent Congressional Research Service report, which asks whether the United States is permitted to interdict tankers shipping oil where there is no clear U.S. nexus. Another wrench, of course, is the Biden administration’s “desire not to escalate tensions with China, [and] the pursuit of lower petroleum prices…” Regardless, interdictions should take place if the world has any chance of squeezing the Islamic Republic and its terror-financing oil wealth.
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