Mercator Shipping Lines Stop Transportation of Iranian Crude to India

Mercator Lines has stopped using its Aframax tanker Omvati Prem to ship Iranian oil to India. The Indian tanker was the only ship that was insured under an Indian emergency insurance provision for transporting Iranian crude oil. Iran used the tanker for delivery of crude to its top Indian client, refiner MRPL. The refiner does not have the facilities to take larger tankers.

“At the moment we are not having any plans to lift cargoes from Iran,” said Kowshik Kuchroo, president of shipping at Mercator Lines Ltd. (Reuters, 2 March)

National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), which does not have smaller ships like the Omvati Prem, will now have to use its suezmax ships only partially loaded to be able to deliver to MRPL's plant.

India's imports from Iran fell 22 percent in the first 10 months of its annual contract to an average of 286,400 barrels per day (bpd).

In January, Reuters reported that Iran had chartered Omvati Prem with cover provided by Indian insurance companies for supplying oil to MRPL. A shipping source has told Reuters that Mercator had decided against using the Omvati Prem for Iranian cargoes due to pressure from the United States.

U.S. Ambassador to India Nancy J Powell raised the issue that Mercator was using a loophole to help Iran supply oil on 15 February in a meeting with India National Security Advisor Shiv Shankar Menon, oil industry and diplomatic sources told Reuters.

File photo: Mercator’s Aframax Tanker Omvati Prem (gcaptain.com)