Page 12 - AsianOil Week 01 2021

AsianOil EAST ASIA AsianOil

Iran seizes South Korean-

flagged tanker in Persian Gulf

PIPELINES & IRAN’S Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps The tanker was en route from Al-Jubail in
TRANSPORT (IRGC) have seized a South-Korean flagged Saudi Arabia on its way to South Korea for alleg-
tanker in the Persian Gulf allegedly for “causing edly breaking Iranian maritime law.
environmental pollution,” Iranian state televi- The tanker was carrying 7,200 tonnes of
sion IRIB reported on January 4. ethanol, with crew members from Indonesia,
The tanker, the MT Hankuk Chemi, was Vietnam and Myanmar, all of whom have been
stopped by Iranian naval authorities over the arrested, Tasnim News Agency later reported.
pollution allegation. It is the latest in a series of The MT Hankuk Chemi has now been
seizures by Iran’s military in the Gulf and Strait of berthed at Bandar Abbas in Iran and the judici-
Hormuz, which connects the Persian Gulf with ary is now reportedly dealing with the case.
the Gulf of Oman and on to the Indian Ocean. The seizure of the tanker comes after Tehran
The seizure of the vessel is believed to be only in May warned the US against “piracy” of
linked to withheld proceeds, held in Woori Bank capturing its tankers on their way to Venezuela, a
in Seoul, from Iran’s sale of oil and petrochemi- country to which Iran now sends gasoline.
cals to the country. US pressure on South Korea Iran seized a British-flagged tanker in the
has made it impossible for the East Asian nation Gulf in 2019 after British forces detained an
to release the funds to Tehran. South Korea’s For- Iranian tanker off the UK’s overseas territory
eign Minister Kang Kyung-wha is also expected of Gibraltar. Both vessels were released after a
to visit Tehran within the next week. month-long standoff.™

OCEANIA

Shell agrees to sell down stake

in QCLNG common facilities

FINANCE & ROYAL Dutch Shell announced on December interest in the overall QCLNG project. The
INVESTMENT 21 that it had agreed to sell a 26.25% stake in the super-major said the sale would bring its
Queensland Curtis LNG (QCLNG) common interest in the common facilities into align-
facilities to Global Infrastructure Partners Aus- ment with its stake in the overall project as it
tralia. The stake will be sold for $2.5bn, in a deal works to sell non-core assets and high-grade
anticipated to close in the first half of 2021. and simplify its portfolio. It will continue to
Global Infrastructure Partners is an inde- be the operator of the common facilities,
pendent infrastructure fund manager that which include LNG storage tanks, jetties
makes equity and debt investments in infra- and operations infrastructure that service
structure assets and businesses. QCLNG’s liquefaction trains.
Shell currently owns 100% of the QCLNG The transaction will have no impact on the
common facilities, as well as a 73.75% ownership structure of either QGC – a joint

P12 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 01 07•January•2021