By ARATHY SOMASEKHAR and JONATHAN SAUL
HOUSTON, Sept 20 (Reuters) – An oil tanker confiscated by the United States for carrying Iranian oil and diverted to the U.S. Gulf Coast, was headed to the Bahamas on Wednesday under a new name, ship tracking data showed.
The tanker Suez Rajan was the subject of attention this year for carrying more than 980,000 barrels of contraband Iranian crude oil, which was confiscated by the U.S. in a sanction’s enforcement operation.
It was unable to unload the Iranian crude for nearly two and half months over fears of secondary sanctions on vessels used to unload it. It was renamed the St Nikolas after unloading the cargoes.
The vessel fully unloaded the Iranian crude this month and the Suez Rajan Ltd company pleaded guilty in April. It was sentenced to three years of corporate probation and a fine of almost $2.5 million, according to legal documents.
Empire Navigation continued to operate Suez Rajan under its new name, shipping data showed. The vessel was sailing empty and reported Freeport, Bahamas, as its next destination, according to LSEG ship tracking data.
Infrastructure and logistics provider Buckeye Partners has crude oil terminal storage in Freeport, Bahamas.
Empire Navigation and Buckeye did not immediately respond to requests for comments.
(Reporting by Arathy Somasekhar in Houston and Jonathan Saul in London)
EDITOR’S NOTE: The following information was gleaned from the Internet: “Buckeye Bahamas Hub is the leading hub in the Caribbean region and the largest petroleum products terminal in the Western Hemisphere. Buckeye Bahamas Hub currently has over 26 million barrels of storage capacity and 8 berths, including 2 VLCC-capable berths.
Storage includes capacity for crude oil, fuel oil and VGO, diesel fuel, and gasoline and components. These products are imported from locations around the world and stored or blended at Buckeye Bahamas Hub for export, including to regional consumers, key import locations in the Americas, and long-haul markets in Asia. Due to the scale of the location, Buckeye Bahamas Hub is ideally suited for blending, transshipping, and terminalling operations for global trade flows.
Additionally, Buckeye Bahamas Hub provides certain import and export advantages for our customers, as it is situated within the Grand Bahama Port Authority Freeport Free Trade Zone area and thus imports to the facility are granted exemption from customs duties.”
See Reuters article at https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/tanker-involved-in-us-seizure-of-iran-oil-cargo-changes-name
CAPTION: Buckeye Bahamas Hub is the leading hub in the Caribbean region and the largest petroleum products terminal in the Western Hemisphere. Buckeye Bahamas Hub currently has over 26 million barrels of storage. (Photo posted on the Internet)
