The first of three Iranian tankers carrying gasoline to Venezuela has begun discharging operations as the two countries under US sanctions continue to strengthen their trade links.
The 35,200-dwt Forest (built 2004) discharged nearly 247,000 barrels of gasoline at El Palito on Tuesday, Kpler data shows.
The sisterships Fortune and Faxon (both built 2004), each believed to be carrying similar amounts of fuel, are due to enter Venezuelan waters in the coming days.
Sitting on the world’s largest oil reserves, Venezuela has been facing a persistent fuel shortage because of falling crude and refinery output over the past few years.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has therefore turned to Iran, Washington’s geopolitical arch-rival in the Middle East, for fuel as other countries keep away due to US sanctions.
The latest shipments come after a flotilla of five product tankers shipping a total of 1.5m barrels of Iranian gasoline to Venezuelan in the second quarter.
Those included the 50,100-dwt Petunia and Clavel (both built 2018) as well as the trio currently transporting fuel to Venezuela.
IRISL and NITC ships
The larger ships are owned by Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines and the smaller ones by National Iranian Tanker Co. All of them are flagged in Iran.
Earlier this month, US special representative for Venezuela, Elliott Abrams, told reporters that Washington managed to cut off the country’s gasoline imports from everywhere in the world except Iran.
“Our first goal was to make sure that no one other than Iran would engage in this trade,” he said then.
According to some commentators, the State Department official’s remarks suggested the US might choose not to intervene in the oil trade between Iran and Venezuelan for now if other countries are not involved.
The US first imposed sanctions on Venezuela’s oil sector in January 2019 in a bid to drive out the Maduro regime, but efforts have so far borne limited fruit.
The US will hold its presidential and congressional elections in November. Venezuela is to hold a legislative election in December.
