Iranian Oil Is Stuck Off Coast of Texas, but U.S. Firms Won’t Touch It
U.S. federal prosecutors can’t auction off 800,000 barrels of seized Iranian oil sitting in a Greek tanker off the coast of Texas because U.S. companies are reluctant to unload it, according to people familiar with the matter.
Prosecutors commandeered the Suez Rajan tanker carrying the oil earlier this year after charging its Greek owner with sanctions evasion, and directing the ship into the muddy-green waters 65 miles off Galveston’s coast. The U.S. Coast Guard cleared the tanker for unloading, but the companies that manage those transfers—known as lightering—say they are too worried about Iranian reprisal to handle the captured oil.
“Companies with any exposure whatsoever in the Persian Gulf are literally afraid to do it," said a Houston-based energy executive involved in the matter, citing worries “that the Iranians would take retribution against them." The executive said that several of the companies contacted about unloading the oil declined. Another executive at a shipping company involved in lightering in the Gulf of Mexico also flagged concerns over retaliation. “I don’t know if anybody’s going to touch it," the executive said.
The impasse over the seized oil illustrates the difficulties the U.S. government faces when it comes to enforcing sanctions against Iran, which has ramped up attacks against Western shipping interests. Tehran uses those tactics to deter the West from interdicting Iranian exports, according to analysts and former U.S.
officials. The question of how to deal with the Iranian oil comes amid quiet efforts by top U.S. diplomats to restart negotiations with Tehran over a nuclear accord that former President Donald Trump had pulled out of in 2018.
Read more on livemint.com
