According to the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA), South Korea’s oil import from Iran in January hit 224,632 barrels of oil per day (BPD), showing a considerable 47 percent decline.

Collision of Sanchi oil tanker with Chinese bulk carrier in the past month has been cited as one of the main reasons behind such oil export slump. Iran’s Sanchi oil tanker was carrying 136,000 tons of condensates (very light oil) for a South Korean Petrochemical Company.

Technical problems in South Pars Gas Field also has been cited as the other reason for the reduced oil sales to South Korea since Nov. 2017.

IRICA put South Korea’s total oil import from Iran in Jan. 2018 at 3,130,000 barrels of oil per day (BPD).

Nicolas Maduro Venezuelan President put his country’s oil production volume in the first month of New Christian Year in 2018 at 1,800,000 barrels per day (BPD), showing a considerable 250,000 hike in oil barrels per day.

Oil sale in Venezuela accounts for approx. 95 percent of export income rate of this crisis-hit country as OPEC member.

Iran’s General Consul in Shanghai Alireza Irvash told IRIB News Agency that all the necessary measures have been taken to transfer the three corpuses to Tehran from Shanghai later on Tuesday.

The Iranian, Panama-registered Sanchi collided with the CF Crystal of Hong Kong about 160 nautical miles off the coast of China near Shanghai on January 6. The tanker was sailing from Iran to South Korea, carrying 136,000 tons of condensate.

The Sanchi sank on Jan. 14 after burning for several days. The entire 32 crew, including 30 Iranians and two Bangladeshis, are presumed dead.

“On this regard some issues are worth to be considered; firstly, the Chinese were very cooperative and our envoys have had the chance to interview with the personnel of Crystal vessel which collided with Sanchi,” said MP Mohammad Mahdi Boroumandi.

he Iranian legislator made the remarks on Saturday in an interview with Mehr News Agency touching upon the results achieved by the committee tasked with investigating the accident of Sanchi oil tanker which collided with Crystal freighter off Chinese waters and sank in Japanese waters after ten days ablaze.

“The second point is that as all the beneficiary states were required to attend the opening of the black box; The Sanchi side included officials from South Korea as the builder, Panama as the port of registry and the country whose flag was used on the vessel, Hong Kong as the owner and the Islamic Republic of Iran as the operator; and the Crystal side included Hong Kong, and China as the owner of the flag on it. All were present at the meeting to open the black box and now the box is under investigation,” said the law-maker.

The MP dismissed the claims that the final opinion on the reason of the event will be found by the end of this week and reassured that it will take one or two months to finalize the conclusion.

The voyage data recorder of Iranian sunken oil tanker has been sealed by the officials to be decoded in the presence of an expert team and related officials, he said.

Speaking at a ceremony to commemorate one of the victims of the Sanchi incident on Friday, Mohammad Rastad asked people to follow the news of Sanchi oil tanker and expert opinions on the issue only through the national media and ignore the rumors of the unjust bodies.

He underlined that at very first moment of the incident we asked for international assistance to rescue the crew, and the last day, when the necessary measures were taken to find their bodies, it became very difficult due to successive explosions on the ship.

The Panama-registered Iranian tanker, named Sanchi, that was carrying 16,000 tons of gas condensate, collided with a Hong Kong-registered freighter in East China Sea on January 7. One dead body was pulled from water near the tanker when it was still burning and two others plus the black box were recovered by rescue team from the tanker. The tanker sank a week after the incident, despite all efforts made to save the lives of crew. Now it is presumed that all other 30 crew members are dead. Two Bangladeshis were on board the vessel.

The Foreign Minister of People’s Republic of China described the incident as ‘socking’ and ‘saddening’ to the people of China.

Wang Yi added that immediately after the incident, the Chinese government and paramedics started their operation to rescue the Iranian sailors and maintained close cooperation with Iran.

Also in this regard, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lu Kang in an interview in Beijing expressed his condolences on the fatal incident.

“The Iranian foreign ministry called all the countries which could help fire-caught oil tanker,” said Es’hagh Jahangiri, the Iranian First Vice-President on Monday.

The Iranian official made the remarks addressing the 32nd edition of Razi Festival of Medical Research touching upon the tragedy of Sanchi oil tanker on which 30 Iranian crew members lost their lives. The giant vessel accidentally collided with a grain vessel and sank after burning for 8 days on Chinese waters. He offered condolences over the tragedy.

“These dear ones were serving their country at a toiling, difficult, and tiresome job,” he said.

“This bitter accident was much unexpected and at the very first moment of collision a huge blast occurred,” recounted the Iranian official. “From very early moment that I heard the bad news I contacted Iranian ambassador to China to utilize the full potentials to save and rescue these dear compatriots,” he noted.

Secretary of Iran’s Expediency Council Mohsen Rezaei extended sympathies over the demise of the Iranian crew of Sanchi oil tanker. He condoled the bereaved families.

The Iranian official pointed to the case in a post on his Twitter account on Sunday.

“The death of our compatriots in Sanchi, mine, and earthquake are all demonstrating carelessness toward the value of human life,” reads his message.

The former commander in chief of IRGC called for identification and prosecution of the guilty in the case of the Sanchi oil tanker.