Bloomberg reports that more than 10 tankers carrying crude oil from the Iranian regime, which have been sanctioned by the United States, are stranded near the shores of Malaysia. This could be a sign of a slowdown in Iran’s oil shipments to China.
In a report published on Thursday, March 27, Bloomberg also stated that some of these tankers have been anchored in Malaysian waters for over a month and still have no buyers.
According to the report, based on ship-tracking data, at least 11 tankers carrying crude oil from the Iranian regime were either halted around Malaysia this week or moving at a very slow pace.
Bloomberg states that these ships are carrying approximately 17 million barrels of Iranian oil and have gathered in an area west of the Malaysian peninsula, a location commonly used for ship-to-ship transfers of Iranian oil.
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According to previously released information, Iranian oil in these waters is transferred to tankers with unclear or obscure ownership before continuing its journey to China or other destinations.
Since returning to the White House, Donald Trump has once again adopted the “maximum pressure” policy against Iran. This policy includes efforts to “reduce Iran’s oil exports to zero” to prevent the regime from funding its regional proxy militant groups and acquiring nuclear weapons.
Bloomberg’s Thursday report states that the transfer of crude oil from Iran’s main export terminals, such as Kharg Island, to ship-to-ship transfer areas like Malaysia has been closely monitored in recent months due to the implementation of the U.S. president’s policy on Iran.
The publication, citing data from OilX, has reported that the volume of Iranian oil stranded near Malaysia and Singapore is the highest since August of this year.
It is unclear whether these shipments are waiting for ship-to-ship transfers or if they are awaiting buyers from China’s private refineries.
In recent years, the Iranian regime has used a “ghost fleet” to transfer and sell its oil. These tankers turn off their automatic identification systems, conduct ship-to-ship transfers in the middle of the ocean, rebrand the oil, and employ other tactics to ultimately deliver Iranian crude to Chinese ports.
The Trump administration, in addition to sanctioning Iran’s oil minister, has announced four rounds of economic sanctions against Tehran in just the past two months. These sanctions also target Iranian oil tankers as well as small and private refineries in China.
According to Bloomberg’s data, more than two-thirds of the tankers carrying Iranian crude oil have been sanctioned since late February.
However, the publication predicts that U.S. actions are unlikely to completely halt oil trade between Iran and China.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, the U.S. government announced that it had filed a lawsuit in a Washington, D.C. court to seize revenue from one million barrels of Iranian oil as compensation due to its links to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
