US sanctions nine tankers that moved 16 mil barrels from Iraqi ports since 2024

The nine tankers recently sanctioned by the US as part of another crackdown on Iran's oil trade through Iraq have transported over 16 million barrels of crude and petroleum products from Iraqi ports since the beginning of 2024, an analysis of S&P Global Commodities at Sea data found.

On Sept. 2, the US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control placed the Suezmax, LR1, and MR ships on the sanction list along with UAE-based businessman Waleed Khaled Hameed al Samarra'i.

The sanctions also apply to Babylon Navigation and Galaxy Oil, two of his UAE-based companies that manage the logistics, shipping and trading of energy products, OFAC said.

The companies did not immediately respond to an email seeking comments.

CAS data suggests Samarra'I's shipping network is mainly used for domestic transshipments in Iraq and oil transfers to the UAE aside from one Suezmax, which transports crude to India. The nine vessels have lifted 5.09 million barrels of unknown origin oil loaded in Iraq year-to-date, with naphtha making up 1.10 million barrels while fuel oil made up the remaining volumes. According to CAS, these shipments were bound for the UAE or domestic transshipments.

This is compared to 11.2 million barrels of oil liquids transported in 2024, of which only 7.08 million barrels were Iraqi-origin crude. Remaining volumes consisted of unknown origin fuel oil or naphtha, according to CAS. Destination countries were either India, the UAE, or another Iraqi location.

The network of re-exporting Iranian oil disguised as originating in Iraq has generated $300 million per year for Iran and its partners, OFAC said in a Sept. 2 statement.

"To obscure their activity in smuggling Iranian oil, Al-Samarra'i's vessels use ship-to-ship transfers with US-sanctioned vessels publicly affiliated with Iran's shadow fleet to distance themselves from direct interactions with the Iranian petroleum sector," the statement said.

Disguised oil flows

Western authorities have stepped up enforcement against shipping businessmen engaged in transporting sanctioned oil with disguised origin. Previously, OFAC sanctioned Salim Ahmed Said for allegedly using a network of companies to sell Iranian oil falsely declared as Iraqi oil in July.

The latest crackdown on Tehran's oil trade operations follows the re-introduction of some European sanctions from France, Germany and the UK, according to a Sept. 2 report by S&P Global Energy.

Crude volumes loaded from Iran were estimated at 44.8 million barrels in August, according to CAS data, while volumes loaded in Iraq during the same month were around 107 million barrels.

Of Iraq's total volumes in August, only 106 million barrels are of Iraqi origin, while 1.1 million barrels are classified as 'unknown,' according to CAS.

Port data obtained by Platts shows that Iraqi seaborne crude exports rose to 3.33 million b/d in July from 3.28 million b/d in June. China and India have been the top two buyers of Iraqi crude in recent years.