TEHRAN: Oil cargoes loaded ship to ship at a port in the United Arab Emirates may contain Iranian crude disguised as Iraqi barrels, and that it cannot insure these volumes as they are in breach of U.S. sanctions on Tehran.
Insurer West of England sent a letter to its members this week stating that Iranian crude labelled as Iraqi oil was being transferred ship to ship (STS) by smugglers at the Khor Fakkan port in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
“It appears that such oil may routinely be described as being of Iraqi origin and as having been loaded on board the transferring vessel at Basra some time before the proposed STS operation,” the insurer said in a letter dated Jan. 13.
The insurer said it “cannot provide insurance to vessels which load Iranian cargo in such circumstances and cover will cease in its entirety if such cargo is loaded”.
The report comes as U.S. lawmakers, keen for Washington to take a harder line with Tehran on its nuclear programme, press ahead with a plan for more sanctions on Iran.
West of England said that documentation of barrels labelled as originating from Basra in Iraq, and which stopped over at Khor Fakkan, should not be taken at face value.
“There is evidence of a sophisticated smuggling operation and those responsible may go to considerable lengths to disguise the true origin of the cargo,” the insurer said in the letter on its website.
