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Iran Oil Ship at Risk of Sinking as Buyer Seeks Other Supply

Iranian Oil Tanker Collides With Chinese Ship On Way to Korea

(Bloomberg) -- Hanwha Total Petrochemical Co. bought alternative supply after a fire on board an Iranian oil tanker that was destined for the South Korean company. Crew members of the vessel were still missing following a collision in the East China Sea with another ship that’s left it in danger of sinking.

The Sanchi is still ablaze and may explode after colliding on Saturday with the bulk carrier CF Crystal about 160 nautical miles off the coast of Shanghai, Chinese state media reported, with images showing the ship shrouded in thick black smoke. China, South Korea and the U.S. sent vessels and planes to search for Sanchi’s missing crew -- 30 Iranians and two Bangladeshis, the Associated Press reported.

One of the 32 missing sailors was found dead, Tasnim News Agency reported, citing Mohammad Rastad, the head of Iran’s Ports and Maritime Organization. The ship was throwing off poisonous gases, hindering rescue efforts, Tasnim said, citing Sirous Kian-Ersi, managing director of National Iranian Tanker Co.

Iran Oil Ship at Risk of Sinking as Buyer Seeks Other Supply

Sanchi was ferrying 1 million barrels of condensate -- a hydrocarbon liquid that’s used to make petrochemicals -- to Daesan, according to a Hanwha Total spokesman. The firm plans to use its stockpiles as a replacement for the supply, and is considering whether to make additional purchases, he said, asking not to be identified because of internal policy.

Hanwha on Monday also issued a tender and bought five 25,000-metric-ton cargoes of naphtha -- another feedstock involved in petrochemical production -- for delivery next month, paying a premium of about $10 a ton over benchmark prices for four of the shipments. It didn’t issue tenders to buy a similar grade of the oil product for delivery in January, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Hanwha Total purchased a total of about 64 million barrels of condensate in the January-November period last year, of which 39.4 million barrels came from Iran, according to the state-run Korea National Oil Corp. data compiled by Bloomberg.

Compensation Claim

The Panama-flagged Sanchi is owned by state-run NITC and departed Assaluyeh port on Dec. 16 for Daesan, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. All aboard the CF Crystal, a Hong Kong-registered cargo vessel that was carrying grain from the U.S. to China, were rescued, according to China’s Ministry of Transport, which said oil was on the water.

Hanwha plans to claim compensation for the cargo’s loss under its own insurance program, according to the South Korean company’s spokesman.

The Sanchi has full protection and indemnity insurance through the Steamship Mutual P&I club, according to its executive chairman Gary Rynsard. The incident is being treated as a “normal casualty” although it is too early to assess the size of any possible claim, he added. The cover spans oil pollution, damage, collision, death and and injury to the crew.

Iran, the third-largest oil producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, sells most of its crude and condensate to Asia, exporting about 2 million barrels a day. Condensate is a light oil produced along with natural gas, mainly at Iran’s offshore South Pars fields. The port of Assaluyeh is the main loading point for Iranian condensate.

--With assistance from Ladane Nasseri Anthony DiPaola Claudia Carpenter and Alex Longley

To contact the reporters on this story: Heesu Lee in Seoul at hlee425@bloomberg.net, Ann Koh in Singapore at akoh15@bloomberg.net, Serene Cheong in Singapore at scheong20@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Pratish Narayanan at pnarayanan9@bloomberg.net, Ovais Subhani

©2018 Bloomberg L.P.