Syria supplied with oil from unspoken regional ally Iraq

According to Reuters:

The Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad has received substantial imports of Iraqi crude oil from an Egyptian port in the last nine months, shipping and payments documents show, part of an under-the-radar trade that has kept his military running despite Western sanctions.

[...]

A Reuters examination based on previously undisclosed commercial documents about Syrian oil purchases shows however that Iran is no longer acting alone. Dozens of shipping and payment documents viewed by Reuters show that millions of barrels of crude delivered to Assad's government on Iranian ships has actually come from Iraq, through Lebanese and Egyptian trading companies.

[...]

The documents refer to at least four shipments by four tankers named Camellia, Daisy, Lantana and Clove, each of which is operated by Iran's NITC and, say the documents, carried Iraqi oil from Egypt's Mediterranean port of Sidi Kerir to Syria.

This shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. Iran's close ally Iraq providing support to Syria in that country's battle against the common enemy of all three: Takfiris (the same threat referred to in Western parlance as "Jihadis").

File photo: Clove (formerly Semnan) crude oil tanker (IMO 9171450)

Flag: Tanzania (formerly Malta)

File photo: Camellia (formerly Saveh) crude oil tanker (IMO 9171462)

Flag: Tanzania (formerly Malta)

File photo: Lantana (formerly Sanandaj) crude oil tanker (IMO 9172040)

Flag: Tanzania (formerly Malta)

File photo: Daisy (formerly Susangird) crude oil tanker (IMO 9172038)

Flag: Tanzania (formerly Malta)

Photos: Dennis Mortimer, Mick Prendergast, Patrick Lawson and Carlos Sequeira at MarineTraffic.com

Iran-Built Aframax Tanker to Be Delivered to Venezuela

Iran’s Minister of Industry, Mines and Trade Mehdi Ghazanfari announced today in Tehran that the first of the four Aframax tankers being built in Iran for Venezuela’s national oil company will be delivered in October. Aframax ships are oil tankers smaller than 120,000 metric tons deadweight (DWT) with a breadth of above 32.31 meters. Iran Marine Industrial Company (SADRA) is the manufacturer of the ships.

To view the photos of Iran's Aframax oil tankers in stages of development, please click here.

Photo credit: Iran’s first domestically built Aframax. (IRNA/Press TV)

Iran Builds Its First Oil Tanker – Exports to Venezuela (2)

Photos of Iran's Aframax oil tanker in stages of development

















Per OSGEOINT:

Iran is in the process of launching its first domestically produced Aframax tanker constructed by the Iran Marine Industrial Co. (SADRA) at the Bushehr island shipyard. The current ship is reportedly 113-tons and will be  delivered to Venezuela in the following year.

In building the ship, Iran originally contracted Polish advisers in January 2008 but were eventually replaced by a South Korean engineering company, according to Iran's PressTV and other open sources.

Reza Abdolmajid, a SADRA spokesman, says the ship costs around 52 million Euros to manufacture; however Venezuela reportedly paid 110 million Euros for each of the four Aframax ships on order.

Abdolmajid went on to say that SADRA was currently working on two Aframax tankers concurrently and noted that they were 60 and 22 percent complete.

Photos: Mehr News Agency, Sadra and OSGEOINT

Iran Builds Its First Oil Tanker – Exports to Venezuela

Iran launched its first domestically built oil tanker. The oil tanker was ordered by Venezuela, becoming the first Iranian ship to be exported.

“The production of the aframax ship is the first export shipbuilding activity of Iran, and we must continue by attracting more customers,” said Mehdi Etesam, managing director of Iran Maritime Industrial Company SADRA, the builder of the oil tanker. The tanker can carry up to 700,000 barrels of oil. (Fars News Agency, 24 July)