Iran seeks control of oil terminals in China
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on The Ghana Report
According to confidential letters obtained by Iran International, Tehran has gained control of several port facilities and oil terminals in China to ship its sanctioned crude. The shipments would be carried by shadow fleet vessels controlled by Hossein Shamkhani, according to the outlet.
According to Iran International, which cites confidential correspondence obtained by the channel, Iran is using oil terminals and storage facilities in China to ship its oil to its main buyer and keep sanctioned vessels in operation. In his letters to Hamid Bovard, former head of the National Iranian Oil Company and current acting oil minister, Ali Shamkhani, a former political adviser to former supreme leader Ali Khamenei, refers to the use of shadow fleet vessels. Ali Khamenei and Ali Shamkhani were both killed in the first US-Israeli strikes on Iran, in February.
According to sources at the Iranian oil ministry, Tehran has acquired control of port facilities at three locations in China and stakes in quays in Shandong province, the birthplace of China’s independent refiners. Sanctioned vessels controlled by Hossein Shamkhani, son of Ali Shamkhani, would carry Iranian oil to these terminals. Iran has also obtained long-term leases on large oil storage depots at several Chinese sites.
These operations come as the US blockade in the Gulf of Oman has sharply reduced Iranian exports. Chinese independent refiners, known as teapots, are looking for other sources of cheap crude. According to maritime tracking firm Kpler, Iranian exports have fallen sharply since August, and there is no longer any Iranian oil to unload in China.
