A tanker that Iran’s Navy seized in the Gulf of Oman last year is currently moving into international waters, Reuters has reported, citing data from its affiliate data-cruncher LSEG.
As for its cargo, Iran unloaded that earlier this year and said the oil would be sold and the proceeds used to import medicines for a rare but severe skin disease. The decision came after a lawsuit filed by patients with the disease against the U.S. government at an Iranian court. The suit blamed U.S. sanctions from preventing the patients from getting treatment for their condition.
The court’s final ruling in the case came yesterday, ordering the U.S. government to pay $6.8 billion in compensation to the patients with epidermolysis bullosa. The value of the oil on the Advantage Sweet was estimated at some $50 million.
Iran’s Navy seized the Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker Advantage Sweet in May 2023while it transited international waters in the Gulf of Oman. The oil tanker had departed the Mina Saud Port in Kuwait and was destined for Houston, Texas, after being commissioned by U.S. oil giant Chevron.
The crude oil tanker is Turkish-owned and operated. The U.S. Navy at the time demanded that the vessel be released, asserting that the tanker had been seized in international waters, halfway between Iran and the Omani coast. In response, the Iranian Navy said it was taking the Suezmax crude oil tanker back to Iran for investigation.
Then, earlier this year, Iranian media reported that the Iranian government was going to unload the crude from the tanker in a tit-for-tat response to the U.S. unloading the cargo of an Iran-affiliated tanker it seized back in 2023 and in response to which Iran seized the Advantage Sweet.
Reuters noted in its report the U.S. State Department had welcomed reports that Advantage Sweet was on the move.
By Michael Kern for Oilprice.com
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