Iranian crude oil shipments stopped at its main terminal, according to satellite images
Oil shipments from the Iranian island of Jarg, the country’s main export terminal, appear to have stopped for several consecutive days, according to satellite images compiled by Bloomberg, in what represents the longest interruption detected since the start of the war.
Satellite images collected by the agency show that there were no ocean tankers docked at the terminal on May 8, 9 and 11. Although isolated days without ships at the docks had already been recorded since the beginning of the conflict, such a prolonged period without cargo activity had never been observed.
Iran had maintained operations in Jarg during the conflict and continued to load crude oil onto ships later used as floating storage after the US Navy blocked ships from leaving the Persian Gulf.
Bloomberg notes that a prolonged shutdown of the terminal would further increase pressure on the country’s remaining storage facilities, which, according to the aforementioned images, are increasingly full. If capacity were exhausted, Tehran could be forced to implement further production cuts, after having already reduced some of its output.
The New York Times previously reported a 3,000-barrel leak at the facility based on an image taken on May 6, which could have affected loadings. Iran denied the existence of the spill and subsequent images show no obvious signs of a spill.
Photos taken on May 11 by the European Union’s Sentinel 2 satellite show all of Jarg’s docking points empty. Other images captured two and three days earlier also do not record oil tankers at the terminal.
Since the start of the attacks launched by the United States and Israel on February 28, only two previous images had shown the terminal without docked ships: one in early March and another in mid-April.
Faced with the impossibility of leaving the Persian Gulf without risk of seizure or attack by the US Navy since mid-April, numerous Iranian oil tankers are being used as floating storage.
According to Bloomberg, the number of large oil tankers anchored east of Jarg increased from three vessels on April 11 to at least 18 vessels of various sizes on May 11. Other ships are massing in front of the Iranian port of Chabahar, near the border with Pakistan.
It is not clear how many of those tankers are loaded or empty, although the agency considers it reasonable to assume that those that visited Jarg before anchoring near the island contain cargoes of crude oil.
Analysis of satellite images also suggests that Jarg’s storage tanks are approaching their capacity limit. Bloomberg explains that the reduction in shadows cast by the tanks’ floating roofs indicates a greater volume of oil in storage. The agency adds that some analysts, such as the firm Kpler, estimate that Iran could maintain production until the end of May before running out of storage space. (Efe)
