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Ghost Tankers, Bartering, and Middlemen: Iran's Playbook for Selling Oil in the Face of U.S. Sanctions
(Radio Free Europe-Radio Liberty) Frud Bezhan - While the U.S. has pledged to cut Iran's oil exports to "zero," denying Tehran a key source of revenue through tough sanctions, analysts predict that Tehran's exports will not fall more than 30% from current levels. An Iranian official said the country would circumvent renewed sanctions by selling oil on the "gray market." One tactic previously employed by Iran to bypass U.S. sanctions is through the use of "ghost" tankers, switching off oil tankers' automatic tracking signal. This makes it difficult to pinpoint the origin, route, and the date a tanker is loaded and unloaded. Other tactics include ship-to-ship oil transfers and discharging and loading oil at remote ports. Tehran has also reflagged its tankers to mask their origins. Scott Lucas, an Iran expert at Birmingham University in Britain, says some industry experts estimate that Iran is exporting up to 400,000 barrels of oil per day above officially acknowledged levels through such methods.