MOSCOW: Russia has diverted its naphtha cargoes from Oman amid the Middle East crisis as it looks for new buyers, traders said and LSEG data showed, with at least one tanker now heading for Singapore.
Iran’s strikes on Gulf countries in retaliation for Israeli and US strikes against it have disrupted energy production and shipping, including naphtha loadings and discharges.
Since the European Union’s full embargo on Russian oil products took effect in February 2023, most Russian naphtha has been directed to the Middle East and Asia.
Middle Eastern countries are also the top supplier to Asia with the recent disruption forcing Asia’s naphtha margin to four-year highs, while at least one South Korean naphtha cracker operator was considering declaring force majeure and another has cut its operating rate by around a fifth.
The Liberia-flagged tanker, Amfitrion, which loaded in February in the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk destined for Oman, last week halted navigation near the Gulf of Masira and on Tuesday turned for Singapore, according to LSEG data.
Five middle-sized tankers carrying a total 180,000 metric tons of naphtha in January departed Russian ports for an offshore STS (ship-to-ship) berth near Oman’s Shinas, shipping data showed. The final destination of these cargoes remains unknown.
According to data from LSEG and traders, Russia also sent two cargoes to Oman’s Sohar in November-December, carrying a total of 190,000 tons of naphtha as its other markets dried up.
India and Taiwan were among the main Asian buyers of Russian naphtha, but recent US sanctions have prompted both countries to pull back. Exports to Venezuela have also fallen to zero this year after US President Donald Trump in December ordered a blockade on all sanctioned oil tankers entering or leaving the Latin American country.
Though Asian buyers face naphtha shortages, Western sanctions could force traders to shun Russian cargoes. The long navigation from Russia’s Baltic ports to Asia also prevents prompt shipments, market sources said.
Russia diverts its naphtha from Oman due to Middle Eastern crisis, data shows
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Russia diverts its naphtha from Oman due to Middle Eastern crisis, data shows
- Strikes have disrupted energy production and shipping, including naphtha loadings and discharges
- Since the European Union’s full embargo on Russian oil products took effect in February 2023, most Russian naphtha has been directed to the Middle East and Asia
Sri Lanka hospital releases 22 rescued Iranian sailors
- Sri Lankan authorities said the survivors from the Dena were being handled according to international humanitarian law
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka discharged from hospital 22 Iranian sailors who were plucked from life rafts after their warship was sunk by a US submarine, officials said Sunday.
The sailors were treated at Karapitiya Hospital in the southern port city of Galle since Wednesday after the IRIS Dena was torpedoed just outside Sri Lanka’s territorial waters.
“Another 10 are still undergoing treatment,” a medical officer at the hospital told AFP.
He said the bodies of 84 Iranians retrieved from the Indian Ocean were also at the hospital.
Those discharged from hospital overnight had been taken to a beach resort in the same district.
Sri Lankan authorities said the survivors from the Dena were being handled according to international humanitarian law, and the government had contacted the International Committee of the Red Cross for assistance.
The island is also providing safe haven for another 219 Iranian sailors from a second ship, the IRIS Bushehr, that was allowed to berth a day after the Dena was sunk.
Sailors from the Bushehr have been moved to a Sri Lanka Navy camp at Welisara, just north of the capital Colombo, and their ship taken over by Sri Lanka’s navy.
Sri Lanka announced it was taking the Bushehr to the north-eastern port of Trincomalee, but an engine failure and other technical and administrative issues had delayed the movement, a navy spokesman said.
Sri Lanka has denied claims that it was under pressure from Washington not to allow the Iranians to return home, and said Colombo will be guided solely by international law and its own domestic legislation.
A US State Department spokesperson said the disposition of the Bushehr crew and Iranian sailors rescued at sea was up to Sri Lanka.
“The United States, of course, respects and recognizes Sri Lanka’s sovereignty in the handling of this situation,” the spokesperson told AFP in Washington.
India, meanwhile, said Saturday that it had allowed a third Iranian warship, the IRIS Lavan, to dock in one of its ports on “humane” grounds after it too reported engine problems.
The three ships were part of a multi-national fleet review held by India before the war in the Middle East started last week.
“I think it was the humane thing to do, and I think we were guided by that principle,” Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said on Saturday.
The Lavan docked in the south-west Indian port of Kochi on Wednesday.
“A lot of the people on board were young cadets. They have disembarked and are in a nearby facility,” Jaishankar said.
