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Tehran cuts number of supertankers idling in Gulf
Iran, Opec's second-largest oil producer, cut the number of tankers it has idling in the Arabain Gulf to 11, from 15 a week ago, ship-tracking data show.
- Bloomberg
- Published: 00:08 July 2, 2008
Tehran: Iran, Opec's second-largest oil producer, cut the number of tankers it has idling in the Arabain Gulf to 11, from 15 a week ago, ship-tracking data show.
The 11 very large crude carriers, or VLCCs, have a storage capacity of about 22 million barrels. They are floating near the Kharg Island crude-oil loading facility or the nearby Soroush Terminal, according to AISLive data on Bloomberg.
Of the four tankers that set sail since June 23, two are bound for Egypt's Ain Sukhna terminal in the Red Sea, where they can empty their cargoes into a pipeline for refiners to collect. Another is going to China and one to Jebel Dhanna in the UAE.
Hojatollah Ghanimifard, executive director of international affairs at the National Iranian Oil Co, said June 2 that Iran, which had to use tankers for storage while its refinery customers carried out annual repair works, would start using the carriers for deliveries again by mid-summer.
Following is a table of Iranian-owned VLCCs stationed near Kharg Island. It normally takes 24 to 48 hours to load a cargo and set sail.
Meanwhile, Iran, the world's No 2 holder of natural-gas reserves, faces delays in rolling out projects as global lenders cut commercial ties with the country and bureaucracy crimps progress on the fuel's export, a report said.
Shipments of liquefied natural gas from Iran may be postponed by as much as five years to 2014-15 as Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Total SA defer sanctioning projects in South Pars, the largest single natural-gas deposit in the world, FACTS Inc said in a report yesterday.
Output from five blocks in the field is being delayed, the US consultant said.
Investment in new gas projects is needed to expedite export plans, meet domestic demand for the cleaner-burning fuel, and keep power and chemical plants running.
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