Iranian tanker Adrian Darya 1 goes dark off Syria

[Ghost Dog]

BEIRUT (Reuters) - The Iranian oil tanker Adrian Darya 1 at the centre of a dispute between Tehran and Western powers appears to have turned off its transponder in the Mediterranean west of Syria, Refinitiv ship-tracking data showed on Tuesday.

The tanker which is loaded with Iranian crude oil, sent its last signal giving its position between Cyprus and Syria sailing north at 15:53 GMT on Monday, the data showed...

https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-mideast-iran-tanker/iranian-tanker-adrian-darya-1-goes-dark-off-syria-idUKKCN1VO0XL

[Ghost Dog]

1. PressTV: Iran oil products expose frailty of US sanctions web (FA Group)

Since this is the Foreign Affairs Group, I think we can consider what this Iranian outlet has published today in this context:

... According to Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh, Iran’s product exports reached their highest level in August, even though he did not reveal their volumes.

One energy consultancy, cited by Reuters, put Iran’s product exports at 400,000-500,000 barrels per day (bpd). The news agency, meanwhile, estimated oil product sales by Iran at about $500 million a month.

Fuel oil used for power generation and shipping and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) used as cooking gas and petrochemical feed constitute the bulk of Iran’s oil product exports...

https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2019/09/03/605220/Iran-sanctions-oil-products-US-LPG-fuel-oil-China

(... This oil products category doesn't include crude oil requiring refining such as that carried by this tanker, I take it).

[Ghost Dog]

2. ... Threatens to become a major political embarrassment for the UK.

... "It's now safe to assume she's in Syria's territorial waters," TankerTrackers.com tweeted. It is now thought to be sitting off the coast of Tartus awaiting a ship-to-ship transfer via one of a handful of Iranian-linked tankers in the region, also currently with no Automatic Identification System signals active. It is not against international law for a ship to turn her AIS off, but it is often done to try to get around sanctions.

Lloyd’s List Intelligence suggested two possible smaller vessels that may be involved in any transfer. Silvia 1, an Iran-flagged tanker, turned off its transponder on August 29 having entered the Mediterranean via the Suez Canal. While Stark I, a 159,681 dwt, Iran-flagged crude tanker, took a similar route, also dropping off communication late on August 30.

“The fact that Adrian Darya 1 is currently skirting the Syrian coast with its AIS offline, awaiting what the US intelligence services expect to be an imminent ship-to-ship transfer, which will ultimately see its cargo end up in Syria, is politically embarrassing for almost everyone except Iran,” said Richard Meade, managing editor of Lloyd’s List Intelligence...

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/09/03/iran-tanker-centre-diplomatic-row-goes-dark-syria-released-gibraltar/