Sign up to create alerts for Instruments,
Economic Events and content by followed authors
Free Sign Up Already have an account? Sign In
Richard Broome
Sep 25, 2018 9:18AM ET
Put up some U.S.Navy P-3's.
0
0
Quotes
All Instrument Types
- All Instrument Types
- Indices
- Equities
- ETFs
- Funds
- Commodities
- Currencies
- Crypto
- Bonds
- Certificates
Please try another search
🚨 NDVA surged 43% - these 3 AI stocks could be next Start Free Trial
Iranian Oil Tankers Go Dark With 1 1/2 Months to Go to Sanctions
Published Sep 25, 2018 08:02AM ET
Updated Sep 25, 2018 08:50AM ET
© Bloomberg. The oil tanker 'Devon' sails at sunset towards Kharq Island to transport crude oil to export markets in Bandar Abbas, Iran, on Friday, March 23, 2018. Geopolitical risk is creeping back into the crude oil market.
(Bloomberg) -- Iran’s oil tankers are starting to disappear from global satellite tracking systems with just under six weeks to go until U.S. sanctions are due to hit the country’s exports, making it harder to keep track of the nation’s sales.
No signals have been received by shore stations or satellites from 10 of the Persian Gulf nation’s crude oil supertankers for at least a week, according to tanker tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. The most likely explanation is that the vessels’ transponders have been switched off, making it more difficult to track the their movements.
When they were last seen, the 10 vessels, which are listed below, were holding around 13 million barrels of crude and condensate, a light form of crude extracted from gas fields. If they’re now full, that would rise to about 20 million barrels.
Long Time, No See:
An 11th supertanker, the Deep Sea, last signaled on Sept. 17 as the ship was heading toward the Persian Gulf from Khor Fakkan in the United Arab Emirates, showing its destination as Iran’s Kharg Island oil export terminal. It reappeared early on Sept. 25, exiting the Persian Gulf, with its signal indicating it had taken on a full cargo destined for Vadinar in India.
The National Iranian Tanker Co. didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The disappearance of Iran’s tankers will make it increasingly difficult to monitor ship movements as the Nov. 4 deadline looms for buyers to halt purchases of Iranian crude and condensate or face being blocked from the U.S. financial system. The three full vessels last seen heading out of the Persian Gulf were all showing destinations in China.
The loss of the signals could be the result of seasonal atmospheric conditions, which can cause problems in winter in parts of the world where their capture relies on satellites, rather than shore stations. But such disruptions are usually short lived and signals should have been received from ships once they left the Persian Gulf, unless their transponders have been switched off.
Related Articles
Comments (1)
Add Chart to Comment
Confirm Block
Are you sure you want to block %USER_NAME%?
By doing so, you and %USER_NAME% will not be able to see any of each other's Investing.com's posts.
%USER_NAME% was successfully added to your Block List
Since you’ve just unblocked this person, you must wait 48 hours before renewing the block.
Report this comment
I feel that this comment is:
Comment flagged
Thank You!
Your report has been sent to our moderators for review
Add a Comment
We encourage you to use comments to engage with other users, share your perspective and ask questions of authors and each other. However, in order to maintain the high level of discourse we’ve all come to value and expect, please keep the following criteria in mind:
Enrich the conversation, don’t trash it.
Stay focused and on track. Only post material that’s relevant to the topic being discussed.
Be respectful. Even negative opinions can be framed positively and diplomatically. Avoid profanity, slander or personal attacks directed at an author or another user. Racism, sexism and other forms of discrimination will not be tolerated.
Perpetrators of spam or abuse will be deleted from the site and prohibited from future registration at Investing.com’s discretion.