U.S.-Sought Oil Tanker Vanishes From Tracking Systems Near Syria

(Bloomberg) -- An oil tanker that the U.S. is trying to seize disappeared from satellite-tracking not far from Syria’s coast, prompting speculation the ship is about to transfer its cargo to another vessel out of the view of global ship-monitoring systems.

The last signal from the supertanker Adrian Darya 1, thought to have 2 million barrels of oil on board, was received on Monday afternoon, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg.

Previously called Grace 1, the vessel was seized near Gibraltar by the U.K. military and local police in early July on suspicion of supplying crude to Syria. The British overseas territory released the carrier last month, saying it received assurances the vessel wouldn’t sail to any entity sanctioned by the European Union.

The only obvious candidates in the eastern Mediterranean that might take the oil from the Adrian Darya 1 are Syria and Turkey, and officials in the latter country already said they hadn’t bought the vessel’s cargo. The location of its last signal was to the west of the Lebanon-Syria border when the ship was heading north. Three Iranian tankers have entered the eastern Mediterranean through the Suez Canal since Aug. 28.

“The reality is the only country in the Med that would be willing to take it would be Syria, and that’s the country Iran promised it wouldn’t go to,” Richard Mallinson, a geopolitical analyst at Energy Aspects Ltd. in London, said of the Adrian Darya 1. “The difficulty, as we’re seeing more broadly, is that Iran is struggling to find buyers willing to accept any significant volumes of its loadings.’’

U.S. Warrant

The U.S., which has its own sanctions on Iran, issued a warrant to seize the vessel in mid-August, shortly after Gibraltar announced the tanker was free to leave. The U.S. Department of Justice alleged unlawful use of the U.S. financial system to support and finance the sale of oil by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps to Syria.

The most likely scenario for the Adrian Darya 1 has always seemed to be that it would transfer its cargo to smaller vessels controlled by Iran in the eastern Mediterranean for delivery to Syria. It’s unclear if the U.S. would take any action against other vessels that receive cargo from the Adrian Darya 1.

Even so, the U.S. may yet try to seize the supertanker. The vessel will probably try to leave the Mediterranean at some point after delivering its latest cargo -- either via Egypt’s Suez Canal or back through the Strait of Gibraltar. It may also need to refuel.

“I would assume at some point it will reappear, probably unladen, and then it’s quite likely that it will head back towards Iran and load up again,’’ said Mallinson.

--With assistance from Julian Lee.

To contact the reporters on this story: Alaric Nightingale in London at anightingal1@bloomberg.net;Alex Longley in London at alongley@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alaric Nightingale at anightingal1@bloomberg.net, Brian Wingfield, Rachel Graham

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