* Iranian VLCC MT Nabi heading towards Suez
* Another Iran VLCC anchored off South Africa for a month
By Daniel Fineren
DUBAI, April 15 (Reuters) – The MT Tour tanker carrying
Syrian crude oil dropped anchor in the Strait of Hormuz near the
Iranian port of Bandar Abbas over the weekend, AIS Live ship
tracking data on Reuters showed on Sunday.
Syria, a small exporter at 109,000 barrels per day in 2010,
used to sell most of its crude to Europe until European Union
sanctions on oil trade with President Bashar al-Assad’s
government stopped those sales last year.
The MT Tour is owned by ISIM Tour Limited, a shipper
identified by the United States as an Iranian government front
company set up to evade sanctions. It loaded Syrian light crude
in the Mediterranean in late March before sailing through the
Suez Canal and then heading east.
Iran sent the tanker to pick up the crude, estimated to be
worth about $84 million to its sanctions-hit Syrian ally, and a
source told Reuters last month the cargo was destined for China.
It is not clear why the MT Tour has now dropped anchor off
Iran, which as one of the world’s biggest crude producers has no
reason to import more.
Tehran is finding it difficult enough to find buyers for its
own oil as European and Asian customers cut back imports due to
sanctions, forcing it to store millions of barrels of its own
crude in oil tankers.
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