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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Half Iran tanker fleet storing oil at sea |
| 2012-04-26 |
| Iran has been forced to deploy more than half its fleet of supertankers to store oil at anchorage in the Gulf as buyers of its crude cut back because of sanctions, two Iran-based shipping sources said. The sources, who are familiar with operations at Iran's main export terminal Kharg Island in the north of the Gulf, said 14 of National Iranian Tanker Company's (NITC) fleet of 25 very large crude carriers, each loaded with about 2 million barrels of oil, are now at anchor acting as floating storage. A further five of Iran's nine Suezmax tankers, with capacity of one million barrels, are also parked offshore with oil aboard. That means that of Iran's 59-million-barrel fleet of VLCCs and Suezmax sized tankers, 33 million barrels of capacity are being used to store crude at sea in the Gulf, or 56 percent of the fleet. The shipping data suggests Iran's difficulties in selling its oil are getting more acute. With more than half the NITC fleet at anchorage, Iran's capacity to export oil is severely curtailed. |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #8 HMMMM, HMMMMM - soo-o-o, ala the post-Yom Kippur Saudi Oil Embargo of the 1970's, Iran is waiting for Oil Markets-Prices to crash so that its vessels will be first to deliver to desperate international vendors??? * "Demolition derby wid an Island" > Manhattan/NYC Harbor + San Francisco Bay. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2012-04-26 22:36 |
| #7 Whatever. As long as the USN keeps an eye on them as they pass by, that's fine with me. Think of them as possible Q-Tankers. :-) |
| Posted by: gorb 2012-04-26 22:34 |
| #6 They could be filled with HE and/or LNG and rigged to explode Or unicorn gas and the bitter tears of children who've found out there's no Santa Claus. I've heard that's a really volatile mix. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2012-04-26 22:24 |
| #5 their real value is as propaganda. spill one out on purpose and blame the us for shooting it an creating an ecological disaster. |
| Posted by: abu do you love 2012-04-26 20:48 |
| #4 They could be filled with HE and/or LNG and rigged to explode. I'd keep them far away. |
| Posted by: gorb 2012-04-26 19:02 |
| #3 A tanker can only play demolition derby with an island. The weapon is crude oil which not only doesn't explode, it doesn't even burn when spread out. Oh, yeah. And they can be sunk. There have been reports that the Iranian shipping have turned off their locator beacons. Which means, when the pirates grab them, nobody knows where they are. Which is too bad. |
| Posted by: Richard Aubrey 2012-04-26 15:42 |
| #2 Food for thought: The tankers could be used as weapons, both against USN ships and other tankers. |
| Posted by: gorb 2012-04-26 14:27 |
| #1 Which half? |
| Posted by: kelly 2012-04-26 11:01 |