Devon

Legal experts say Iran's signing up of 11 tankers to Tuvalu's shipping registry may have negative consequences for the small Pacific nation. The tankers, which includes seven crude oil carriers, will fly the Tuvalu flag. It comes just days ahead of a European boycott of Iranian oil exports designed to pressure Tehran over it's nuclear program. Professor Bill Hodge, from the law faculty at New Zealand's Auckland University, told Radio Australia's Pacific Beat program, Iran is probably using a Tuvalu flag to try to get around the sanctions. He warns it may cause problems for Tuvalu. "This puts Tuvalu potentially in a flashpoint in the Persian Gulf if NATO, if the Europeans, if the Americans say we're going to stop this ship and the captain says 'Sorry we're a Tuvaluan ship'. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-06-28/an-iran-tuvalu-tankers/4098790?section=business

Reuters reports that the Iranian supertanker Delvar anchored near Singapore for the past week has moored at Royal Dutch Shell's refinery to discharge about 1.5 million barrels of crude, according to Reuters data and three trading sources on Friday. The National Iranian Tanker Co. (NITC) vessel arrived on Thursday evening at Bukom island, where Shell's 500,000 barrel-per-day refinery is located, Reuters Freight Fundamentals Database showed. http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/03/02/iran-crude-asia-idUKL4E8E22NI20120302

Iranian supertanker Delvar anchored near Singapore has discharged a part cargo of condensate into smaller China-bound tanker Xuan Wu Hu in what traders said on Tuesday was a rare move, taking place as Western sanctions are complicating oil trade with Iran. The smaller 60,000-tonne vessel, Xuan Wu Hu, was bound for an oil complex in Huizhou, where China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) and oil major Royal Dutch Shell jointly operate a petrochemical complex that contains a splitter. Shipbroking sources said the Xuan Wu Hu, a vessel owned by China's Cosco, was chartered by Shell and that the cargo of condensate - very light hydrocarbon liquid - is from Iran's South Pars field. "The Huizhou plant takes only condensates, while the nearby refinery uses domestic crude from CNOOC's Penglai field, which has been shut since September," a China-based trader said. The Iranian supertanker Delvar is presently in Singapore's eastern anchorage, according to Reuters Freight Fundamentals Database, which tracks the positions of ships and also showed that it is partially loaded, from estimates of its draft. www.brecorder.com...