Fuel Tanker Archives - Iran News Daily

Final Vessel of Iranian Flotilla Arrives in Venezuela’s Waters

reporter 1222 — Sun, 04 Oct 2020 06:32:46 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – The final vessel in a flotilla of three Iranian fuel tankers entered Venezuela’s waters on Saturday, in the latest sign of cooperation between the two countries.

The Faxon, carrying around 234,000 barrels of fuel, was directly north of Venezuela’s northeastern Sucre state as of 9:37 a.m. local time (1337 GMT) on Saturday, Refinitiv Eikon data showed. The second vessel, the Fortune, had docked at western Venezuela’s Amuay port on Friday, the data showed, Reuters reported.

The flotilla was the second group of fuel tankers Iran has sent this year to Venezuela, a once-prosperous OPEC nation now experiencing gasoline shortages due to US sanctions on state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela.

The shortages have led to snaking, sometimes days-long lines outside PDVSA gas stations. Together with unreliable water, power, and cooking gas supplies.

Washington sanctioned PDVSA last year as part of its push to oust Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who says the United States is seeking to steal Venezuela’s oil riches.

Iran’s oil industry is also under US illegal sanctions, and the growing cooperation between Tehran and Caracas this year has alarmed US authorities. But the three tankers – just like a flotilla of five tankers that Iran sent between May and June – arrived without incident.

The first tanker in the current group, the Forest, docked at central Venezuela’s El Palito port on Tuesday.

Iran’s shipments signal Tehran’s commitment to aiding its South American ally despite US efforts to stymie such cooperation.

Leader of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei praised the crew and captains of the first flotilla that took Iran’s gasoline to Venezuela despite threats by the administration of US President Donald Trump to take action against them, according to Press TV.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry has said any attempt by the US to stop them will be met with “a swift and decisive response.”

In a letter to United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres in May, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif issued a stern warning against the US’ provocative acts through dispatching its naval forces to the Caribbean Sea with the goal of disrupting the course of Iranian tankers carrying fuel for Venezuela.

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Mousavi: Iran, Venezuela Remain Strong against US Sanctions

reporter 1222 — Thu, 25 Jun 2020 06:33:03 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Seyyed Abbas Mousavi in a message referred to US sanctions against Iranian ship captains, saying Iran and Venezuela remain steadfast in countering unlawful sanctions.

“US desperate moves against Iranian individuals – like the one announced by @SecPompeo, aka the #SecretaryofHate – just signal the miserable failure of the so-called “max pressure,” Mousavi wrote in his Twitter account on Thursday, according to IRNA.

“Despite US pressure, Iran & Venezuela remain steadfast in countering unlawful American sanctions,” Mousavi added.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday that Washington “is sanctioning five Iranian captains who delivered gasoline and its components to Venezuela.”

The sanctions captains delivered gasoline and gasoline components to Venezuela, and “are now added to OFAC’s Specially Designated National and Blocked Persons List (SDN List),” the US Treasury Department said in a statement on Wednesday, the National reported.

The sanctions come as Iran supplied 1.5 million barrels of fuel to Venezuela last month amid a collapse of refinery operations and tightening sanctions by the United States that has made it more difficult for Venezuela to obtain fuel on international markets.

US has already imposed sanctions against the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRSL) and the National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC).

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Another ship en route to Venezuela: Iran

reporter 1222 — Sat, 20 Jun 2020 07:14:44 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – Iran appears to have dispatched another merchant ship to Venezuela despite Washington’s threats against both nations, according to reports.

Washington Post stated an Iranian ship ‘Golsan’ is expected to dock in Venezuela soon, an arrival that comes shortly after the five tankers loaded with gasoline delivered to Venezuela.

According to the American media, Golsan is moving towards the Venezuelan coast, and Russ Dallen, head of the Miami-based investment company, says the ship is carrying parts to continue repairing Venezuelan refineries.

The vessel is expected to anchor in Venezuelan ports on Sundays or Mondays.

Last month, a five-tanker Iranian-flagged flotilla carried up to 1.53 million barrels of gasoline and components to Venezuela to help the country ease an acute scarcity that has forced Venezuelans to wait for hours in lines at service stations.

According to the Maritime Traffic Center, Golsan left the port of Shahid Rajaei in Iran on May 17 this year and its current speed is about 13.1 knots. Each node is 1852 meters per hour.

The Golsan tanker was built in 1998, is now carrying fuel under the flag of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Iranian tankers continue to enter Venezuelan ports and refineries as the US government has previously threatened to block new oil tankers between Tehran and Caracas to prevent them from reaching the Venezuelan coast.

With the arrival of Iranian tankers in Venezuela, the Caracas government and nation thanked the Iranian people for their solidarity in sending fuel to the country and promised to continue fraternal relations between the two countries.

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Fuel Tankers to Venezuela to Arrive Sunday

reporter 1222 — Sat, 23 May 2020 06:00:09 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – A flotilla of five tankers carrying Iranian fuel for gasoline-starved Venezuela is approaching the Caribbean, with the first vessel expected to reach the South American country’s waters on Sunday, according to Refinitiv Eikon tracking data.

Iran is supplying about 1.53 million barrels of gasoline and alkylate to Venezuela, according to both governments, sources and calculations made by TankerTrackers.com based on the vessels’ draft levels.

Washington is considering measures in response, according to a senior US official, who did not elaborate on any options being weighed.

The US recently beefed up its naval presence in the Caribbean for what it said was an expanded anti-drug operation. But a Pentagon spokesman, Jonathan Hoffman, said on Thursday he was not aware of any operations related to the Iranian cargoes.

“We have continued to say that Iran and Venezuela – both two outliers in the international order – (are) clearly violating international sanctions on both nations with this transaction,” he told reporters.

Venezuela’s defense minister said its military will escort the Iranian tankers once they reach the nation’s exclusive economic zone.

Iran-flagged tanker Fortune, the first in the flotilla, was approaching the Caribbean Sea on Friday. It has been navigating with its satellite signal since it passed the Suez Canal earlier in May. The four other vessels are following the same route across the Atlantic Ocean, the Eikon data showed, Reuters reported.

The OPEC-member country desperately needs fuel for up to 1,800 gasoline stations that have been partially closed for weeks due to insufficient supply from state-run PDVSA’s refineries, which until March worked at about 10 percent of their joint capacity of 1.3 million barrels per day (bpd).

PDVSA’s gasoline output is now limited to a single facility, the Amuay refinery, but most fuel produced is low octane as most of the country’s alkylation units are out of service, according to company sources. Imported alkylate could improve the quality of domestic gasoline.

PDVSA did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Venezuela was consuming 170,000 bpd of gasoline before coronavirus-related lockdown measures. Fuel sales at stations declined to about 40,000 bpd due to rationing, according to analysts.

Over a decade of mismanagement and lack of staff – combined with US sanctions that since 2019 have limited imports – have left Venezuela’s refineries in poor condition. Shipments of equipment in flights by Iran’s Mahan Air have arrived in Venezuela in recent weeks to start repair work.

The US Department of the Treasury this week blacklisted the Chinese firm that provided the refinery parts. Beijing called the sanctions “illegal”.

US West Texas Intermediate crude fell 67 cents on Friday to settle at $33.25 a barrel, paring about half earlier losses of more than five percent. Global benchmark Brent settled at $35.13, down 93 cents on the day.

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Tanker carrying Iranian fuel passes through Gibraltar

reporter 1222 — Sun, 17 May 2020 10:39:29 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – Based on tanker tracking data, a tanker carrying Iranian fuel has passed through Gibraltar heading towards Latin America, according to media.

The tanker ‘FAXON’ sailed through Gibraltar on Sunday, which is claimed by some western media to be headed towards Venezuela.

According to the same reports, five tankers, namely Clavel, Faxon, Forest, Petunia, and Fortune, are carrying Iranian fuel are traversing toward Venezuela.

While the first four have passed Gibraltar, the medium tanker Clavel passed the Suez Canal on Wednesday and is headed toward Gibraltar, the reports add.

The vessel-tracking data from analyst Refinitiv Eikon suggests the Clavel tanker loaded fuel at Bandar Abbas port in Iran at the end of March, and sailed through the Suez Canal and entered the Atlantic on Wednesday.

Iranian and Venezuelan officials have not reacted to these claims yet.

The oil sectors of Iran and Venezuela, members of OPEC, are both under US sanctions. However, the tankers are said to have kept their satellite-tracking transponders on.

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Fuel Tanker Crash in Iran Sets Fire to Bus, Kills 27

reporter 1222 — Wed, 11 Jul 2018 08:30:10 +0000

At least 27 people have been killed in the city of Sanandaj, Kurdistan province, after a fuel tanker rammed into a passenger bus and burst into flames.

At least 27 people have been killed in the city of Sanandaj after an oil tanker collided with a passenger bus; a number of people are also reported to have been severely injured during the collision.

According to Kurdistan Road Police, the tragic incident took place in the early hours before dawn on Wednesday in an inter-city highway.

One of the two bus drivers who survived the incident said that the bus had stopped to pick up passengers behind a pickup truck, where suddenly an oil tanker rammed into the bus and both burst into flames.

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