Iranian oil tankers have reached Indian ports after nearly seven years, with vessels anchoring off Sikka and Paradip under a temporary US sanctions waiver. (Representative image)
After a crude oil tanker laden with Iranian oil reached the waters off the port of Paradip in Odisha, another Iranian oil tanker has reached the anchorage of Gujarat’s Sikka port, according to ship tracking data. These tankers mark the first cargoes of Iranian crude to reach Indian ports in almost seven years, following the sanctions waiver announced by the US last month. The one-month waiver allowed sale of Iranian oil already in tankers on the water in a bid to ease the supply disruption in the global market and keep oil prices in check. After peace talks failed over the weekend, the US has now announced a blockade of Iranian ports in an effort to restrict Tehran’s revenue from oil exports.
Very large crude carrier (VLCC) Felicity dropped anchor off Sikka port late Sunday (April 12), according to vessel tracking data. The tanker sails under the Iranian flag and is operated by the National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC), as per shipping database. As of Monday 10 am, its location was the Sikka anchorage, according to data from maritime analytics provider MarineTraffic. Trade sources indicated that Felicity may be laden with 2 million barrels of Iranian oil meant for private sector refining giant Reliance Industries (RIL). The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Felicity follows Jaya, a Curacao-flagged VLCC, which reached the waters off Paradip port a couple of days earlier, and is estimated to be carrying 2 million barrels of Iranian crude for public sector refiner Indian Oil Corporation (IOC). Both Felicity and Jaya—among the tankers sanctioned by the US—lifted crude from Iran’s main oil export facility of Kharg Island, according to trade sources. Jaya is estimated to have been loaded late February, just before the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran. Felicity is estimated to have lifted oil from Kharg sometime in the middle of March.
A recent Reuters report had said that India’s shipping ministry gave special permission to four tankers carrying Iranian oil to berth at the Sikka port. Felicity was among the tankers for which the permission was reportedly given. Industry experts believe that some more Iranian crude is expected to reach India over the coming days, before the US waiver for Iranian oil purchases expires on April 19.
A few days back, the government confirmed that India is buying Iranian crude and there were no payment-related hurdles in buying Tehran’s oil, following the sanctions waiver for Iranian oil on water. “India imports crude oil from 40+ countries, with companies having full flexibility to source oil from different sources & geographies based on commercial considerations. Amid Middle East supply disruptions, Indian refiners have secured their crude oil requirements, including from Iran; and there is no payment hurdle for Iranian crude imports…,” the Petroleum Ministry had said in an April 4 post on social media platform X. It had also announced that a tanker carrying Iranian liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) was discharging cargo at the New Mangalore port.
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Amid the West Asia war, the US on March 21 suspended for a month the sanctions on Iranian crude already loaded on tankers in a bid to allow as many barrels of oil as possible to flow into the international market to improve the global oil supply situation and curb spiralling crude oil prices. The waiver from Washington was similar to the one issued for Russian oil earlier in March; India’s Russian oil imports have surged since the war began. India hasn’t imported Iranian crude since May 2019 due to reimposition of US sanctions on Tehran by the first Trump administration.
According to the general licence issued by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Department of the Treasury on March 21, transactions related to the sale, delivery, or offloading of crude oil and petroleum products of Iranian origin – loaded on any vessel, including tankers sanctioned by the US, as of 12.01 eastern daylight time (9.31 am India time) on March 20 – are authorised until April 19.
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Vessel movements through the Strait of Hormuz were effectively halted due to the conflict that began on February 28; Iranian oil shipments largely continued unabated though. The Strait accounted for one-fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) flows. Around 2.5–2.7 million bpd of India’s crude imports—around half of the overall oil imports—have transited the Strait in recent months, while the longer-term average is around 40%. India depends on imports to meet over 88% of its requirement of crude oil.
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