Page 4 - LatAmOil Week 21 2020

LatAmOil COMMENTARY LatAmOil
A Venezuelan naval ship escorted the Iranian tanker into the South America state’s territorial waters (Photo: IRNA)
Iranian fuel tanker docks in Venezuela
US makes no move to interfere with relief shipment, despite talk of willingness
to consider additional measures to deter trade between two states under sanction
WHAT:
Venezuela has received the first of five Iranian gasoline shipments.
WHY:
The fuel supplies will help the South American state compensate for the sorry state of its refining sector.
WHAT NEXT:
Iran and Venezuela will continue asserting their right to trade with each other.
AN Iranian tanker carrying fuel to help address Venezuela’s severe gasoline shortage reportedly reached its destination on May 25, without any interference from the US. Four more fuel-laden tankers were still en route to the South Ameri- can country as of earlier this week.
Iran’s English-language Press TV agency reported on May 25 that the first of the five tank- ers had moored at El Palito, a Venezuelan port run by the national oil company (NOC) PdVSA. Ship-tracking service MarineTraffic confirmed the arrival.
“The Iranian oil/chem Handymax tanker, FORTUNE, which loaded 43mn litres of gaso- line during mid-March at Port Shahid Rajaee, Iran, has now moored at berth 2 at the refinery of El Palito, Venezuela, situated [200 km] west of [the] capital city, Caracas,” tweeted Tanker- Trackers.com.
A second vessel, the Forest, entered the Car- ibbean Sea on May 23. As of press time, the three other tankers were still in the Atlantic. Tanker tracking services have estimated that the five tankers – the Fortune, the Forest, the Petunia, the Faxon and the Clavel – are carrying at least 1.53mn barrels of gasoline and chemical addi- tives worth $45.5mn.
Maduro praises solidarity
The Forest arrived amidst a certain amount of fanfare.
Venezuelan state TV broadcast footage of a navy ship and helicopter escorting the tanker into the country’s territorial waters, along with footage of officials celebrating its arrival. It also showed Nicolas Maduro, the country’s presi- dent, praising the solidarity and co-operation between his country and Iran.
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w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 21 28•May•2020