SINGAPORE (Reuters) – A cargo of 1.033 million barrels of Iranian crude oil was recorded as landing on U.S. shores in March, data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed, the first shipment of Iranian oil to the United States since 1991.
The cargo was registered in EIA data, released late last week, covering the month following the seizure by U.S. authorities of the Liberian-flagged Achilleas tanker, which was transporting Iranian crude.
The EIA didn’t disclose further details of the Iranian cargo, and the agency could not be immediately reached for comment.
Graphic – U.S. records rare import of sanctioned Iranian crude oil in March 2021: https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/ce/rlgvddwkqvo/USIranOilImport.png
Refinitiv Eikon shipping data showed the Achilleas tanker discharged its cargo at the U.S. Gulf port of Galveston in March.
The seizure was in line with tough economic sanctions imposed by Washington on Tehran over its nuclear programme and the U.S. designation of a number of Iranian groups as terrorist organisations, continuing decades of rancour between the two nations. Iran rejects U.S. accusations of wrongdoing.
(Reporting by Florence Tan, Gavin Maguire and Nidhi Verma; Editing by Shri Navaratnam and Kenneth Maxwell)
