Asian buyers of Iranian crude are struggling to find vessels willing to call at ports in the Islamic Republic as ship-owners fear losing insurance cover for their tankers because of European and US sanctions aimed at curbing Tehran's nuclear ambitions.
Although the EU ban on the import and transportation of Iranian crude does not directly affect Iran's Asian customers, a provision in the sanctions legislation agreed January 23 is having an impact far beyond European shores. "It shall be prohibited to provide, directly or indirectly, financing or financial assistance, including financial derivatives, as well as insurance and reinsurance, related to the import, purchase, or transport of Iranian crude oil and petroleum products," the legislation says.
Chartering and ship owning sources say that tanker operators with protection and indemnity (P&I) insurance cover from mutual clubs based in Europe are not accepting crude cargoes loading from Iran, despite being offered a premium to standard rates.
This rather long story was filed from Singapore late on Tuesday...and was sent to me by reader W. Busser. The article is posted on the platts.com website...and is well worth skimming. The link is here.
