Iran’s regime has emerged as the leader in global oil smuggling, with an estimated 1.7 million barrels of oil and petroleum products being transported daily via a network of clandestine vessels known as the “ghost fleet,” according to a tanker tracking company.
What is the Ghost Fleet?
The ghost fleet, also referred to as the “dark fleet,” consists of oil tankers that operate under the radar by disabling their Automatic Identification System (AIS). This practice allows them to secretly deliver oil cargoes to various destination markets while avoiding detection. These vessels employ various tactics, such as transferring oil between ships in the middle of the ocean and altering documentation and branding of the oil to obscure its origin.
Key Destinations for Iran’s Smuggled Oil
According to a post by TankerTrackers, a tanker tracking company, published on X (formerly Twitter), Iran exported around 1.5 million barrels of crude oil, gas condensate, and liquefied gas to China last year. Additionally, 200,000 barrels of furnace oil (mazut) were sent to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) via the ghost fleet, and 70,000 barrels of crude oil were delivered to Syria.
In total, more than 1.7 million barrels per day (bpd) of Iranian oil and petroleum products were transported through the ghost fleet last year. This volume surpasses the clandestine oil shipments of both Russia and Venezuela combined.
Iran’s Primary Oil Buyers
China and Syria are currently the only customers for Iran’s crude oil and gas condensate, while the UAE purchases Iran’s fuel oil. In addition, Iran exports liquefied gas, including propane and butane, to China.
Kpler, a commodities data and analytics company, reported that last year Iran exported approximately 240,000 barrels of fuel oil and 1.324 million barrels of crude oil and gas condensate. The remainder of Iran’s shipments consisted of liquefied gas, which is also transported via oil tankers.
Official Iranian statistics indicate that the country exported 6.5 million tons (around 140,000 bpd) of liquefied gas to China last year.
The Scale of Iran’s Ghost Fleet
The United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) organization estimates that Iran exported a total of 1.46 million bpd of oil last year. UANI identified 400 vessels involved in the secret transportation of Iranian oil. Despite this, TankerTrackers noted that the U.S. Treasury Department has only blacklisted about one-third of the ghost fleet.
Rebranding Iranian Oil
A significant portion of Iran’s oil is rebranded and sold under other countries’ names. More than half of Iran’s oil is sent to Malaysia, where it is then sold to small Chinese refineries, known as “teapots,” under the guise of Malaysian oil. The remainder is rebranded through brokers in Oman, the UAE, Iraq, and other countries before being shipped to China.
For instance, China’s customs data for July this year shows that the country imported 1.53 million bpd of oil from Malaysia—a figure that is triple Malaysia’s total oil production. Moreover, the amount of oil delivered to China under the label of Malaysian oil is 12 times greater than Malaysia’s oil exports to China before U.S. sanctions against Iran were imposed.
In China’s customs statistics, the amount of oil imported from Iran is reported as “zero.” If accurate, this suggests that all of Iran’s oil exports to China are being rebranded under other countries’ names.
Current Trends in Iranian Oil Exports
Kpler’s data shows that in the first seven months of this year, Iran exported an average of 1.488 million bpd of oil to China. As of last week, Iran had 17 million barrels of oil stored in tankers anchored in the Persian Gulf or near China.
Vortexa, an energy consulting firm, also reported that China received at least 1.2 million bpd of Iranian oil during the first seven months of this year.
Source » irannewsupdate