Page 6 - MEOG Week 50 2022

MEOG PIPELINES & TRANSPORT MEOG

Tanker jam in Turkish

straits starts to clear

TURKEY THE ‘traffic jam’ of oil tankers waiting to jour- Ankara demanded letters from each tanker to
ney through Turkey’s essential shipping straits prove insurance coverage was in play for their oil
appeared to be clearing by December 12. shipments.
Turkish authorities have held up tankers, Insurers initially resisted providing such
carrying mostly Kazakh but also Russian oil, letters but on December 10, Turkey sent out a
amid insurance doubts that Ankara says arose sample letter to insurers that it stated would be
in relation to Ukraine war sanctions imposed deemed acceptable proof of insurance cover,
on Russia. But tankers able to haul in excess of according to a shipping official talked to by
15mn barrels of crude have navigated either the Bloomberg and a port-agent report.
Bosphorus or Dardanelles shipping straits since The maritime authority’s tweet said there
December 10, according to tanker tracking data were 12 tankers awaiting passage that still hadn’t
compiled by Bloomberg. submitted the correct letter.
Moreover, Turkish maritime authorities Since December 5, Russia has been con-
tweeted on December 11 that four tankers were fronted with a G7 $60 a barrel price cap on its
scheduled to sail through the Bosphorus the next crude oil. Anyone paying above $60 is disquali-
day. fied from obtaining industry-standard insurance
Group of Seven (G7) sanctions on Russia for oil transit.
sparked some confusion as to whether oil tank- Turkey argued it was unable to distinguish
ers passing through Turkish waters to the East- which shipments were bought under the cap,
ern Mediterranean would be insured against unlocking industry-standard insurance, and
risks like collisions and spills. which were not.™

PRICES & PERFORMANCE

EIA assesses Iran earned $34bn

in oil revenues in seven months

IRAN THE US Energy Information Administration Key buyer of Iranian oil China has boosted
(EIA) in a recent report assessed Iran’s 7M22 oil purchases this year despite the fact that US sanc-
revenues at $34bn. tions, framed to drive down Iran’s export sales of
The figure is pretty consistent with what was crude to as near zero as possible, have remained
recorded for the same period the year before. It in place under the Biden administration.
trails the full year-2021 assessed figure by only Certainly at the beginning of this year, when
around $5bn, thus the total for the whole of this there were still big hopes that 2022 could see
year looks set to beat last year’s earnings. The a deal agreed between Tehran and the major
EIA anticipated that the total would be around powers for a resurrection of the nuclear deal, or
$58bn. JCPOA, the US enforcement of the sanctions
The EIA report also assessed that Iran’s was relaxed.
average monthly income from oil sales in Jan- Iran earned $17bn in oil revenues in 2020 and
uary-July was $4.85bn, 49% higher year on year. $39bn in 2021, the EIA estimated.
Record high oil prices helped boost the average. EIA also put the total oil income of the 13
The calculation for Iran’s probable 7M22 oil OPEC members in the mentioned months at
revenue is twice the figure for full year-2020. $500bn.™

P6 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 50 14•December•2022