Tanker Tracking

As Europe increasingly shuns Russian oil in response to its invasion of Ukraine, Moscow has tried to get its Chinese ally to take up the slack.  The world’s third biggest oil supplier is already China’s top provider, supplying 15% of total imports at 1.6 million barrels per day (bpd).

As part of the U.S. withdrawal from the JCPOA in 2018, the White House reimposed sanctions on Iranian oil and tankers to slash regime exports to zero. In response, Tehran farmed out the work to a parallel fleet of foreign vessels. This fleet, 177 strong and all foreign-flagged and foreign-owned, delivers Iranian oil thereby keeping the Islamic Republic in business.

Back in September 2019, the U.S. State Department announced sanctions on five Chinese companies for purchasing Iranian oil, including two entities owned by China Oil Shipping Company (“COSCO”), a Chinese state-owned shipping company headquartered in Shanghai.

On February 2, the International Group of P&I Clubs (IGP&I) – whose members provide maritime liability cover for approximately 90% of the global ocean-going tonnage – issued a joint circular describing recent deceptive shipping practices.

UANI’s shipping campaign has been widely successful in compelling the world’s leading maritime classification societies to strip rogue ships of their certifications. Absent such accreditations guaranteeing a vessel’s seaworthiness, a tanker is barred from entry to foreign ports and may not secure insurance cover.

On January 20, 2022, China officially acknowledged for the first time in more than two years that it had imported Iranian oil – an openly declared violation of U.S. sanctions. In reality, Beijing has been importing millions of barrels of Iranian oil every single month since May 2, 2019, when the U.S. banned all Iranian oil exports to all countries. Since that date, China has imported a total of 542 million barrels from Iran.

Flying in the face of American sanctions, which bans Iranian oil trade, Tehran has managed to dramatically increase its oil exports for 2021 compared to the previous year. By September 2021 – when Iranian Oil Minister Javad Owji said, “there is strong will in Iran to increase oil exports despite the unjust and illegal U.S. sanctions” – Iran had already surpassed the amount of oil it exported in the entirety of 2020.

Recent UANI tracking work has focused on non-Iranian, foreign-flagged tankers loading crude oil and gas condensates from Iran.

Of course, Iranian-operated tankers remain highly active in transporting crude oil and gas condensates.

Why would Russia, the world’s number two oil producer, look to buy oil from Iran?  The answer is not exactly clear, but since August, we have seen two Russian-flagged tankers together carrying more than 1.5 million barrels, apparently en-route to Russia. Both have signaled their destination as Port Kavkaz, a small Russian port on the northern section of the Black Sea, at the entrance to the Sea of Azov. Russia would be a new – and for the U.S., a concerning – option for Iranian crude exporters.

Former Bush advisor and UANI board member Michael Singh notes in Foreign Affairs that for President Biden to prevail against Iran, he must plug the widening sanctions gaps. “Foremost among them,” Singh writes, “are Iran’s sales of oil to China, which increased dramatically starting in 2020 and are reportedly facilitated by deceptive maneuvers such as transfers at sea.”  Similarly, former U.S.