Oil shippers quit Iranian trade

[TruthSeeker]

Iran Sanctions Tighten as OSG to Frontline Halt Crude Loading

February 12, 2012, 9:27 PM EST

By Isaac Arnsdorf, Feb. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Sanctions on Iran are tightening after Overseas Shipholding Group, Frontline Ltd. and owners controlling more than 100 supertankers said they would stop loading cargoes from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ second-largest producer.

OSG, based in New York, said Feb. 10 that the pool of 45 supertankers from seven owners in which its carriers trade will no longer go to Iran. Four OSG-owned ships, managed by Tankers International LLC, called at the country’s biggest crude-export terminal in the past year, ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg show. Nova Tankers A/S and Frontline, with a combined 93 vessels, said Feb. 9 and 11 they won’t ship Iranian crude.

Previous efforts to curb Iran’s oil income and stop it from developing nuclear weapons failed because the structure of the shipping industry means vessels are often managed by companies outside the U.S. or European Union. An EU embargo on Iranian oil agreed to Jan. 23 extended the ban to ship insurance. With about 95 percent of the tanker fleet insured under rules governed by European law, there are fewer vessels able to load in Iran.

“It’s the insurance that’s completed the ban on trading with Iran,” said Per Mansson, a shipbroker for 31 years and the managing director of Norocean Stockholm AB, which handles tanker charters. “Last summer, many countries started to be a little bit tougher, but the insurance is the real trigger.”

Kharg Island

OSG’s Overseas Rosalyn, which can carry about 2 million barrels, arrived at Kharg Island on Jan. 27 and departed the next day, tracking data compiled by Bloomberg show. It left about 16 feet deeper in the water, an indication it loaded cargo. The vessel is managed by Tankers International, which has its head office in Cyprus. OSG complies with all U.S. and European laws and its head office in New York doesn’t manage charters, OSG Chief Executive Officer Morten Arntzen said in an e-mail Jan. 30.

Tankers International told owners the pool’s vessels will no longer sail to Iran after changes to EU regulations, Arntzen said in a Feb. 10 e-mail. Insurers are no longer able to cover vessels trading in the Persian Gulf nation, he wrote.

Ship owners sometimes group their vessels to coordinate charters and improve earnings. The Tankers International pool operates 45 very large crude carriers, or VLCCs, from OSG and six other companies, including Antwerp-based Euronav NV and St. Helier, Channel Islands-based DHT Holdings Inc.

Nova Tankers

“All the owners in the pool have stated that they will not trade Iran because of the consequences,” DHT CEO Svein Moxnes Harfjeld said by phone Feb. 10. “DHT is complying with all relevant regulations and sanctions and following recent developments our vessels have been instructed not to trade Iran.”

Frontline companies including Hamilton, Bermuda-based Frontline Ltd. and Frontline 2012 won’t ship Iranian crude, Jens Martin Jensen, chief executive officer of Frontline Management AS, said by e-mail and phone on Feb. 11 and 12. Frontline operates 43 VLCCs, according to its website.

Nova Tankers, the Copenhagen-based operator of a pool of ships, including vessels owned by Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd., won’t load Iranian crude because of European sanctions, Managing Director Morten Pilnov said by phone from Singapore on Feb. 9. The pool will have about 50 vessels by the end of this year, according to data on its website.

Nippon Yusen K.K., the second-largest owner of VLCCs, won’t carry Iranian oil if it means ships aren’t insured, Yuji Isoda, an investor relations manager for the Tokyo-based company, said Feb. 9. The company doesn’t yet know how its insurers will handle the EU sanctions, he said by phone.

Founded in 1948, OSG has 111 vessels and 3,500 employees, according to its website. Its biggest shareholders include the family of board members Oudi and Ariel Recanati, who control about 10 percent, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Oudi Recanati is an Israeli citizen and Ariel Recanati a U.S. citizen, according to a Sept. 6 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Charles A. Fribourg sits on the board of OSG and Continental Grain Co., the data show.

Iran Sanctions Tighten as OSG to Frontline Halt Crude Loading - Businessweek

 

[TruthSeeker]

New sanctions on Iran disrupt food imports

February 12 2012 at 05:05pm
Niluksi Koswanage and Parisa Hafezi Kuala Lumpur/Tehran

More evidence emerged this week of the crippling impact of new sanctions on Iran, with international traders saying Tehran is having trouble buying rice, cooking oil and other staples to feed its 74 million people weeks before an election.

New US financial sanctions imposed since the beginning of this year to punish Tehran over its nuclear programme are playing havoc with Iran’s ability to buy imports and receive payment for its oil exports, commodities traders said.

Iran denies sanctions are causing serious harm to its economy, but investigations in recent days with commodities traders around the globe show serious disruptions to its imports. That is having a real impact on the streets of Iran, where prices for basic foodstuffs are soaring.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak was in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, the latest leader of a major Asian oil-importing country to visit the Middle East, seeking alternative sources of oil as sanctions make it more difficult to import from Iran.

Traders in Asia said on Tuesday Malaysian exporters of palm oil – the source of half of Iran’s consumption of a food staple used to make margarine and confectionary – had halted sales to Iran because they could not get paid. That followed news on Monday Iran had defaulted on payments for rice from top supplier India, and news last week that Ukrainian shipments of maize had been cut almost in half.

Rice is one of the main staples of the Iranian diet. With the rial currency plummeting, prices have more than doubled to $5 (R38) a kilogram at bazaars in Iran from about $2 last year. Maize is used primarily as animal feed, and the cost of meat has almost tripled to about $30 a kilo, beyond the budget of many middle-class Iranian families.

Traders in Malaysia’s capital Kuala Lumpur said palm oil shipments to Iran had largely been halted since late last year, after US and European sanctions made it difficult for buyers to obtain letters of credit and make payments via middlemen in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

A margarine factory owner in Iran, who asked not to be identified, said there was a shortage in supply of the oils needed to make margarine that could halt production soon.

A default by Iranian buyers on purchases of 200 000 tons of Indian rice can be more crippling. The average Iranian eats 40kg of rice a year, 45 percent of which is imported, the US Department of Agriculture said. India is the main supplier.

The president of the All India Rice Exporters’ Association said it was advising exporters to stop selling rice to Iran with the customary 90 days credit for payment.

Iranian buyers normally pay for Indian rice through middlemen in the UAE, but falls in Iran’s rial means buyers have trouble covering the cost in hard currency.

While it is too early to talk of hunger from the rising prices of food in Iran, international organisations are keeping an eye out for a sign of hardship. UN World Food Programme spokeswoman Gaelle Stevenier said the agency was “monitoring” the situation.

The ultimate hammer blow to Iran’s economy could come in the next few months if it becomes unable to sell the 2.6 million barrels of oil a day that it is accustomed to exporting, or it is forced to offer such steep discounts that its revenue shrivels.

While Iran has a more diverse economy than other big oil exporters in the Gulf, energy exports are still its main source of earnings to buy food and other necessities.

Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia has promised to make up for any shortfalls if countries stop buying Iranian crude.

New sanctions on Iran disrupt food imports - International | IOL Business | IOL.co.za

 

[Ajaxpaul]

This is madness-these sanctions !! At a time when resources are dwindling and when countries should help each other overcome the worst slowdown ever known. Isnt it the right of every human being to lead a good life?

Why punish the ordinary Iranians?

 

[TruthSeeker]

Isnt it the right of every human being to lead a good life?

The Iranians are threatening Israel with nuclear destruction. All sanctions will end in a nanosecond if the Iranians will only open up their nuclear programs to international inspection to verify that they are entirely for non-military purposes. It's that simple. Ordinary Iranians should be asking their government to fully co-operate with the IAEA.

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

This is madness-these sanctions !! At a time when resources are dwindling and when countries should help each other overcome the worst slowdown ever known. Isnt it the right of every human being to lead a good life?

Why punish the ordinary Iranians?

Exactly. And look who the biggest European consumers of Iranian oil are: Italy, Greece and Spain.

These countries are already on the verge of bringing down the Eurozone, which will bring the entire world economy down with it. And now they have to shut off their biggest oil supplier, with promises of skyrocketing oil prices in the future.

And the only ones in Iran who will suffer from these sanctions are Iranian civilians, the regime that the Americans hate so much won't feel the pinch because they are already well off.

And the rest of us can look forward to sky-high prices for oil, and it will be just that much harder to develop ourselves. The world economy is already screwed up enough right now, why make it worse?

 

[Rusty]

more evidence of genocidal American agenda.
But then again, after cleansing 3 continents of "sub humans" what is one more country?

---------- Post added at 01:44 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:42 PM ----------

The Iranians are threatening Israel with nuclear destruction. All sanctions will end in a nanosecond if the Iranians will only open up their nuclear programs to international inspection to verify that they are entirely for non-military purposes. It's that simple. Ordinary Iranians should be asking their government to fully co-operate with the IAEA.

no thats BS
Isreal has ethnically cleansed the Palistinians, they have bombed, assassinated and invaded their neighboring countries and even some who are not neighboring.
And if you want Iran to be subject to IAEA, then Isreal has to be subjected to it as well.

History has shows that you people are not to be trusted, the only thing you offer the world is blankets filled with smallpox

 

[Ajaxpaul]

The Iranians are threatening Israel with nuclear destruction. All sanctions will end in a nanosecond if the Iranians will only open up their nuclear programs to international inspection to verify that they are entirely for non-military purposes. It's that simple. Ordinary Iranians should be asking their government to fully co-operate with the IAEA.

Squeezing ordinary Iranians will only make them vulnerable to the hate spitted out by their leaders. The people move closer to the Govt. Dint the americans learned anything when they sanctioned India, china and pakistan. What did they achieve in all three nations? Mistrust !!

 

[Alchemy]

India in the meanwhile has increased its purchases from Iran even as china decreased oil imports by 50%

India increases Iran oil imports - Tehran Times

ran's crude oil exports to India have increased 37.5% in January.

India has increased oil imports from Iran to become the Islamic Republic's largest customer last month, ignoring recent sanctions imposed by US and EU on importing Iran’s oil.


According to The Wall Street Journal Iranian crude exports to India rose to 550,000 barrels a day in January, up 37.5 percent from December 2011.

The development, the report said, has partly offset a 50 percent cut in crude exports to China as a result of pricing dispute. China now imports around 250,000 barrels a day from Iran.

The news comes despite the West’s rising pressure on Iran to halt its peaceful nuclear program.

On the New Year’s Eve, the United States imposed new sanctions against Iran aimed at preventing other countries from importing Iran’s oil and doing transactions with its central bank.

European Union foreign ministers also approved sanctions against Iran’s oil and financial sectors on January 23, including a ban on Iranian oil imports, a freeze on the assets of the country’s Central Bank within EU states, and a ban on selling diamonds, gold, and other precious metals to Tehran.

Although financial sanctions have caused problems with regard to payment for Iran’s oil by other countries, they have apparently not been able to deter India.

Iran's Ambassador to India Seyyed Mehdi Nabizadeh said last Tuesday that India had agreed to pay for some purchases of Iranian oil in Indian rupees, a route that would avoid the risk of an interruption in banking transfers.

 

[iajj]

typical anglo-american diplomacy: as i said before, there is no friendship with anglo-americans and no possibility of friendship with anglo-american power and no mere possibility of friendship with the mere existence of anglo-american power.

 

[KRAIT]

typical anglo-american diplomacy: as i said before, there is no friendship with anglo-americans and no possibility of friendship with anglo-american power and no mere possibility of friendship with the mere existence of anglo-american power.

In waste dumping thread you were saying anglo-saxons, here you are stating anglo-american....making same arguments on every thread....way to go....

 

[iajj]

In waste dumping thread you were saying anglo-saxons, here you are stating anglo-american....making same arguments on every thread....way to go....

they aren't the same argument - indians fail to see it because they were never taught to think otherwise by their anglo-saxon masters

 

[Serpentine]

The Iranians are threatening Israel with nuclear destruction. All sanctions will end in a nanosecond if the Iranians will only open up their nuclear programs to international inspection to verify that they are entirely for non-military purposes. It's that simple. Ordinary Iranians should be asking their government to fully co-operate with the IAEA.

You are a pathetic liar.When did Iran threaten Israel to even attack it directly,let's not even say with nuclear weapons?
All Iran's nuclear's facilities are under IAEA supervision 24/7 and there are cameras in every place in every facilty.If those puppets in IAEA could find a tiny proof of making weapons in Iran,they wouldn't hesitate for 1 second to publish it worldwide.stop lying,i think you've mistaken here with Fox news comments section.
Nobody buys your BS here.You better call yourself FraudSeeker.That fits better.

 

[Zabaniyah]

The Iranians are threatening Israel with nuclear destruction.

All sanctions will end in a nanosecond if the Iranians will only open up their nuclear programs to international inspection to verify that they are entirely for non-military purposes. It's that simple. Ordinary Iranians should be asking their government to fully co-operate with the IAEA.

They already do.
Russian deputy FM:Iran nuclear facilities are under IAEA supervision

 

[kawaraj]

who cares, stup1d american propaganda.

---------- Post added at 03:09 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:07 PM ----------

You are a pathetic liar.When did Iran threaten Israel to even attack it directly,let's not even say with nuclear weapons?

Nobody buys your BS here.You better call yourself FraudSeeker.That fits better.

you serve him right there.

 

[Arian]

B.S.
Iran has already established a national insurance company for oil tankers carrying Iranian oil, the Americans are trying so hardly to tell the world the sanctions are effective via their media, but everyone is seeing that the sanctions are ineffective and Americans have turned themselves into a laughing stock of the world again.