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Iran rejects selling oil under Iraqi crude label

Oil&Gas Materials 18 January 2015 10:44 (UTC +04:00)

Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 18

By Umid Niayesh - Trend:

Iran has rejected western media outlets' report that the Islamic Republic is breaching sanctions selling its crude disguised as Iraqi oil.

The Islamic Republic sells its crude only to its traditional clients who have licenses, the Iranian oil ministry's official SHANA news agency reported Jan. 18.

Sale of Iranian oil as Iraqi is not true, the oil ministry's website reported.

On Jan. 16, Reuters reported that West of England shipping insurer has warned that oil cargoes loaded ship to ship at a port in the United Arab Emirates may contain Iranian crude disguised as Iraqi barrels, and that it cannot insure these volumes as they are in breach of the US sanctions on Tehran.

The insurer sent a letter to its members stating that Iranian crude labeled as Iraqi oil was being transferred ship to ship (STS) by smugglers at the Khor Fakkan port in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

"It appears that such oil may routinely be described as being of Iraqi origin and as having been loaded on board the transferring vessel at Basra some time before the proposed STS operation," the insurer said in a letter dated Jan. 13.

The insurer said in the letter that Iranian vessels loaded with crude had shuttled across the Strait of Hormuz to supply ships with oil labeled as originating from Iraq and destined for countries that do not benefit from a waiver of US sanctions legislation.

Follow the author on Twitter: @UmidNiayesh

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