An oil tanker carrying Iranian crude has signalled India as its destination, marking what could be the first shipment of Tehran’s oil to the country since May 2019. The development came after the United
States, on March 21, suspended for a month the sanctions on Iranian crude amid the raging West Asia war.
Washington’s removal of sanctions on Iranian oil came in a bid to allow as many barrels of oil as possible to flow into the international market and curb spiraling crude oil prices.
According to vessel tracking data from commodity market analytics firm Kpler, Eswatini-flagged tanker Ping Shun is signaling Gujarat’s Vadinar port as its destination, the Indian Express reported.
According to the data, the tanker is expected to be carrying around 600,000 barrels of Iranian crude, which was loaded on the tanker around March 4 at Iran’s main oil facility of Kharg Island.
It has been learnt that the shipment is expected to arrive at Vadinar on April 4 — estimated time of arrival. Meanwhile, there has been no information on which Indian refiner would be using this oil.
India has historically been a major buyer of Iranian oil. At one point, Iran’s share in India’s total imports was approximately 11.5 percent. In 2018, India imported approximately 518,000 barrels of Iranian oil per day, which declined to 268,000 barrels per day by May 2019. Then, due to US sanctions on Iran, Iranian oil imports were completely halted.
However, the US recently granted a 30-day exemption from sanctions on the purchase of Iranian oil shipments at sea, which is set to expire on April 19.
Meanwhile, as the blockade continues, US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said that the responsibility for keeping the Strait of Hormuz open should belong with countries that rely on it, rather than the US. He stated that there’s “no reason for the US to do this”.
Trump expressed frustration with allies who have been unwilling to do more to support the US war effort, telling them to “go get your own oil”.
