Iranian storage poses shipping headache

Iran may face crude transportation bottlenecks if and when sanctions are lifted

Iran and Western powers are back negotiating a tentative nuclear agreement, raising the possibility that sanctions on Iranian crude might be lifted once more. But despite Iran having huge stocks of crude already in storage, the country may experience bottlenecks—at least initially—with shipping that glut, given the state of its domestic fleet, concerns among other shipowners and insurance stipulations and requirements. State-run news agency IRNA claims that there are currently 78mn bl of Iranian crude stored aboard “tankers in Asian waters”. Energy market analytics firm Vortexa estimates that 36 tankers—comprising 31 very large crude carriers (VLCCs) and five Suezmax vessels—from the state-