December 2021 Iran Tanker Tracking and Year Review

Flying in the face of American sanctions, which bans Iranian oil trade, Tehran has managed to dramatically increase its oil exports for 2021 compared to the previous year. By September 2021 – when Iranian Oil Minister Javad Owji said, “there is strong will in Iran to increase oil exports despite the unjust and illegal U.S. sanctions” – Iran had already surpassed the amount of oil it exported in the entirety of 2020.

In the nine months from January to September 2021, Iran exported almost 300 million barrels of crude oil and gas condensates. That is almost 100 million barrels more than the equivalent period in 2020.

Comparing all of 2020 to 2021, Iran increased its export total by 123 million barrels – an increase of more than 40%. 

Throughout 2021, China was the number one recipient of Iranian oil by a distance, receiving a total of 310 million barrels of crude oil and gas condensates - more than the entire number of barrels exported to all destinations in 2020. Syria took the number two spot for imports, followed by the UAE in third. The chart below shows the total number of oil barrels exported by Iran to each country during 2021:

Looking at the final month of December, oil deliveries to all destinations held steady from the previous month:

View Iran Tanker Tracking

The 40% exports increase for 2021 could not have occurred without the help of foreign-flagged oil tankers. These tankers are not sanctioned by the U.S. government and therefore have assisted the Iranian regime in accumulating millions of dollars to fund its terrorist activities in the region. The Top Ten worst offenders are enumerated below, in descending order of Iranian barrels carried:

In total, these ten non-sanctioned vessels have carried a combined 107 million barrels of Iranian oil, all of which ended up in China. That is approximately 26% of the total Iranian oil exported in 2021.

The following foreign-flagged vessels have engaged in numerous STS of Iranian oil throughout 2021. The most prolific STS offenders are listed below:

Absent this fleet of foreign-flagged tankers, Iran would have a much harder time exporting its crude oil and generating revenue to fund its illicit activities. Throughout 2021, we had numerous examples of maritime authorities and firms taking action against vessels following information provided by UANI, including the following top three actors:

The flag authority that revoked the most number of flags due to a vessel’s Iran involvement during 2021 was the Zanzibar Maritime Authority (ZMA) of Tanzania. ZMA revoked the flag for a total of 11 vessels throughout 2021. We applaud and thank the ZMA.

The classification society that revoked the class for the most number of vessels due to Iran involvement was Det Norske Veritas G.L. (DNV), headquartered in Norway. DNV revoked the classification for a total of 12 vessels.

The Protection & Indemnity (P&I) club that revoked insurance for the most number of vessels due to Iran involvement was the U.K.’s West of England P&I Club (West), which revoked the insurance for a total of 12 vessels.

This month, in addition, the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) withdrew the classification for the crude oil tanker ELSA (IMO: 9256468) following correspondence from UANI. On December 8, 2021, UANI informed ABS that the vessel ELSA was actively engaged in a STS, in the Persian Gulf, with the sanctioned NITC tanker SONIA I. Following our correspondence, ABS conducted its own investigation into the vessel resulting, which confirmed UANI’s initial claims.  

As we enter 2022, we will continue to call on the maritime authorities to revoke the flags, classification, and insurance for Iran’s Ghost Armada vessels and work to detect entities that otherwise facilitate Iran’s illicit export of oil.