Yörük Işık(BOSPHORUS OBSERVER: Obsessive ship-spotting by the Bosphorus .... . .-. / ... . -.-- / -.-. --- -.- / --. ..- --.. . .-.. / --- .-.. .- -.-. .- )
Royal Marines have boarded an oil tanker on its way to #Syria thought to be breaching EU sanctions, the government of Gibraltar has said. @
Royal Marines have boarded an oil tanker on its way to #Syria thought to be breaching EU sanctions, the government of Gibraltar has said. @key2med https://t.co/HzndtJ8oNV— Yörük Işık (@YorukIsik) July 4, 2019
Royal Marines have boarded an oil tanker on its way to #Syria thought to be breaching EU sanctions, the government of Gibraltar has said. @key2med https://t.co/HzndtJ8oNV— Yörük Işık (@YorukIsik) July 4, 2019
Authorities say they had reason to believe the ship was carrying crude oil to a sanctioned refinery.
Fabian Picardo
Statement on the detention of the Super Tanker "Grace 1".
Statement on the detention of the Super Tanker "Grace 1". pic.twitter.com/bzD9WMR6nH— Fabian Picardo (@FabianPicardo) July 4, 2019
TankerTrackers.com, Inc. ⚓️ 🛢 (Keeping track of #oil barrels in storage & transit. Detailed oil export reports, unique stories, discoveries, EIA forecasts. )
We have kept a close watch on the Iranian supertanker GRACE 1 since the end of Nov. She departed Iran in mid-April for what we believed to be Syria by sailing all around Africa. We tracked her into Gibraltar early this morning, where she was detained. Was it crude though?
Based on all the imagery we spent weeks reviewing, we could not see her loading crude oil. She has a history of handling STS transfers of FUEL OIL. We believe she was due to do the same in Syria’s waters. Fuel oil powers vessel engines. It’s heavier than crude oil. She is heavy.
We’re more than happy to be proven wrong, but she did STS operations of fuel oil in Iraq prior to sanctions and also again in Q1 of this year off the port of Fujairah. Some of that FO ended up in Singapore.
Furthermore, Syria’s port of Baniyas has SBM’s rowed out in 19 meters depth of water from what we can see. GRACE 1 is 22.5 meters deep. She wouldn’t be able to feed the SBM (Single Buoy Mooring) without help of a very long hose.
In conclusion, if in fact she is fully laden with fuel oil for STS (Ship-to-Ship) transfers off the coast of Syria, then the destination wouldn’t be Syria, but most likely Europe. Fuel oil is a refined product and will not contain chemical signatures that can trace it back to Iran.
We published an article about the #GRACE1's STS operations in Iraq, Iran and UAE back in early Dec 2018; updated in Mar 2019.
We published an article about the #GRACE1's STS operations in Iraq, Iran and UAE back in early Dec 2018; updated in Mar 2019.https://t.co/dV9nXEXLZq
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Imagery by @planetlabs; data by @MarineTraffic pic.twitter.com/tvnMZanpy3— TankerTrackers.com, Inc.⚓️🛢 (@TankerTrackers) July 4, 2019
