Raisi inaugurates another section of Tehran-Shomal Freeway

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, on Thursday, inaugurated the second section of the Tehran-Shomal Freeway in a ceremony attended by the Minister of Transport and Urban Development Mehrdad Bazrpash.

Over 170 trillion rials (about US$337.8 million) has been invested to complete this 15.5 kilometer freeway section, IRNA reported.

The construction project includes the creation of nine bridges and 17 tunnels with a total length of 19.7 kilometers.

Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, Raisi said the project could save people's time and cost and it plays a significant role in reducing road accidents.

As reported, with the project going operational, 12.5 million liters of gas are going to be saved annually and air pollutants will be reduced by 511 tons per year.

The first section of the long-awaited Tehran-Shomal freeway, which shortens the route between the Iranian capital and Mazandaran province in the north, was officially inaugurated in late February 2020.

The first section of the freeway which was nearly 32 kilometers connected the Azadegan freeway in the capital to Shahrestanak County in Alborz province.

Back in June, Iranian Deputy Transport and Urban Development Minister Kheirollah Khademi said 293 kilometers of freeways are going to be added to the country’s road network by the end of the current Iranian calendar year.

According to Khademi, who is the managing director of Iran's Construction and Development of Transportation Infrastructures Company (CDTIC), the figure is three times the average annual freeway construction in the country.

“Completing the first phase of section 2 of the Tehran-Shomal freeway, inaugurating the Shiraz-Isfahan freeway which is the longest freeway in the country, and completing the Manjil-Roudbar freeway as the bottleneck of the Qazvin-Rasht freeway, were some of the projects on the ministry’s agenda for the current year,” Khademi said.

 

China imposes ban on Japanese seafood

Faced with mounting concerns over the safety of edible imports from Japan, China has vowed to take all necessary measures to abate the worries of its consumers.

This includes extending a ban on imports from 10 Japanese prefectures, including Fukushima, while also deciding to fully screen all shipments from other regions, instead of just spot checking, amid concerns of residual nuclear contamination.

The General Administration of Customs said the plan to discharge the water from the 2011 nuclear disaster failed to fully reflect expert opinions and that it will take all necessary measures to ensure the safety of Chinese consumers.

China first placed a ban on food imports from the 10 Japanese prefectures 12 years ago following the nuclear meltdowns and releases of radioactive materials at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in northeastern Japan in March 2011.

Food from other parts of Japan, especially edible aquatic products, will also receive “strictly 100 per cent” screening of their certification documents and be inspected.

“Chinese customs will continue to strengthen the detection and monitoring of radioactive substances, ensure the safety of Japanese food exported to China, and strictly prevent the import of risky products,” the customs agency said on Friday.

It will also maintain a high level of vigilance and take absolute responsibility to domestic consumers as the principle.

On Tuesday, the International Atomic Energy Agency approved Japan’s plan to release the water, saying it met international standards.

But the China Atomic Energy Authority responded to the report by saying over 70% of nuclear-contaminated water failed to meet discharge limits after going through a filtration system and that it requires further treatment.

“The discharge of nuclear-contaminated water from Japan into the sea has become the focus of global attention,” Chinese customs added.

“It has also caused Chinese consumers to worry about the safety of food imported from Japan.”

 

 

 

Iran seizes tanker with 900 tons smuggled fuel

Iran's Revolutionary Guards seized a tanker holding 900 tons of smuggled fuel and 12 crew members based on a court order, a report by the semi-official Fars news agency said on Friday.

"A vessel carrying 900 tons of smuggled fuel with 12 crew members was seized by the Revolutionary Guards' Navy patrol vessels in the Persian Gulf with a court order," Fars news reported from Iran's southern port of Bandar Abbas.

Iran, which has some of the world's cheapest fuel prices due to heavy subsidies and the plunge in the value of its national currency, has been fighting rampant fuel smuggling by land to neighbouring countries and by sea to Gulf Arab states.

British maritime security company Ambrey said on Thursday it was aware of an attempted seizure by Iranian forces of a small Tanzanian flagged tanker, around 59 nautical miles northeast of the Saudi Arabian port city of Dammam.

 

Venezuela oil export surpasses 700,000 barrels

Venezuela's oil exports in June rose 8% from the previous month to above 700,000 barrels per day (bpd), fueled by the restart of a key crude processing unit and faster approvals for cargoes departing its shores, according to shipping data and documents from state oil company PDVSA.

Exports by PDVSA and its joint ventures declined earlier this year as an extensive audit of oil sales temporarily froze most supply contracts and led to delays authorizing vessel departures.

Second quarter shipments flowed with less hiccups with US oil major Chevron consistently increasing Venezuelan crude exports to the US under a license extended by Washington, and with PDVSA renewing other contracts and signing new supply deals.

A total of 37 cargoes departed Venezuelan ports in June carrying 715,933 bpd of crude and refined products, and 294,000 metric tons of oil byproducts, according to the data and documents.

The main destination of Venezuelan exports, directly and through trans-shipments hubs like Malaysia, was China. Chevron's exports fell slightly to some 134,000 bpd from 150,000 bpd in May, while deliveries to ally Cuba rose to some 75,000 bpd last month, compared with 58,000 bpd in May.

Iranian companies received about 131,000 bpd of crude and fuel oil last month as part of a swap agreement that also allowed PDVSA to discharge 2.1 million barrels of Iranian condensate in recent weeks. Separately, Chevron supplied its joint ventures with a 450,000 barrel cargo of US heavy naphtha, the shipping data showed.

Venezuela's oil exports averaged 670,000 bpd in the first half of the year, almost 15% above the 585,000 bpd of the same period of 2022.

A 150,000-bpd crude upgrader operated by PDVSA and Russian state firm Roszarubezhneft restarted operations in mid-June following a December fire that caused extensive damages, one of the documents showed. The unit turns extra heavy oil into exportable grades.

The Petromonagas upgrader, which was producing some 73,000 bpd of diluted crude at the end of June, is the fourth oil processing facility now in service in the Orinoco Belt, Venezuela's main oil-producing region. It joined Petrolera Sinovensa, Petropiar and Petrocedeno in processing extra heavy crude. One upgrader remains offline.

PDVSA's inventories of upgraded and diluted crudes from the Orinoco jumped to some 6.1 million barrels at the end of June from 5.8 million barrels in May. But they stood below April's 7.5 million barrels, the documents showed.

 

 

Pakistan: PARCO issues fuel oil sales tender

Pakistan’s Pak-Arab Refinery (PARCO) has offered fuel oil for July loading in its latest tender, underlining an ongoing shift in market dynamics as the South Asian country turned to exporting instead of importing fuel oil this summer.

The refinery has offered 50,000 tons of high-sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) with maximum 3.5% sulphur content, for loading at Karachi port between July 15 and 17.

The tender closed on July 05, Parco had previously closed an HSFO sales tender in May this year.

Imports of fuel oil into Pakistan slumped in the second quarter this year as companies resorted to burning more coal for power generation due to its cheaper cost and easy availability.

Monthly imports had hit a four-year high in the second quarter last year.

The country’s fuel oil exports have trended higher in 2023 so far compared to 2022, a total of 340,000 tons in Q2CY2023. It did not export any fuel in the same quarter last year, data from shipping analytics firm Kpler showed.

The country typically imports fuel oil from the Middle East.

Exports have so far gone to Singapore and the United Arab Emirates this year.

The export trend could continue in the coming months as the peak summer demand season is already retreating, with refineries seeking to clear inventories, trade sources said.

 

US Navy says it prevented Iran from seizing tankers in Gulf of Oman

The US Navy said it had intervened to prevent Iran from seizing two commercial tankers in the Gulf of Oman on Wednesday, in the latest in a series of attacks on ships in the area since 2019.

In a statement, the US Navy said that at 2100 GMT, an Iranian naval vessel had approached the Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker TRF Moss in international waters in the Gulf of Oman.

"The Iranian vessel departed the scene when US Navy guided-missile destroyer USS McFaul arrived on station," the statement said, adding that the Navy had deployed surveillance assets including maritime patrol aircraft.

The Navy said that around three hours later it received a distress call from Bahamas-flagged oil tanker Richmond Voyager while the ship was more than 20 miles (32 km) off the coast of Muscat, Oman, and transiting international waters.

"Another Iranian naval vessel had closed within one mile of Richmond Voyager while hailing the commercial tanker to stop," the Navy statement said, adding that the McFaul directed course towards the merchant ship at maximum speed.

"Prior to McFaul’s arrival on scene, Iranian personnel fired multiple, long bursts from both small arms and crew-served weapons," the Navy said.

"Richmond Voyager sustained no casualties or significant damage. However, several rounds hit the ship’s hull near crew living spaces. The Iranian navy vessel departed when McFaul arrived."

US oil major Chevron confirmed that it managed the Richmond Voyager, that crew onboard were safe and the vessel was operating normally.

The TRF Moss' manager is listed in public database Equasis as Singapore-based Navig8 Chemicals Asia, but Navig8 told Reuters it was not connected with the tanker. The vessel's manager could not be immediately located.

Iran's state news agency IRNA said on Wednesday that Iranian authorities have not commented yet on the matter.

"The United States will respond to Iranian aggression together with our global allies and our partners in the Middle East region to ensure the freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz and other vital waterways," a spokesperson for the White House National Security Council said.

Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, commander of US Naval Forces Central Command, cited the exceptional effort by the McFaul crew for immediately responding and preventing another seizure.

Since 2019, there has been a series of attacks on shipping in strategic Gulf waters at times of tension between the United States and Iran.

Iran seized two oil tankers in a week just over a month ago, the US Navy said.

"Since 2021, Iran has harassed, attacked or seized nearly 20 internationally flagged merchant vessels, presenting a clear threat to regional maritime security and the global economy," the Navy statement added.

About a fifth of the world's supply of seaborne crude oil and oil products passes through the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint between Iran and Oman, according to data from analytics firm Vortexa.

Refinitiv ship-tracking data shows the Richmond Voyager previously docked in Ras Tannoura in eastern Saudi Arabia before Wednesday's incident in the Gulf of Oman.

The Richmond Voyager was now leaving the Gulf with Singapore listed as its destination, Refinitiv ship tracking showed.

Top ship registries including the Marshall Islands and Greece have warned in recent weeks of the threat to commercial shipping in the Gulf including the Strait of Hormuz.

In another point of tension, the U.S. confiscated a cargo of Iranian oil aboard a tanker in April in a sanctions enforcement operation, sources told Reuters.

That vessel, the Marshall Islands-flagged Suez Rajan, is anchored outside the U.S. Gulf of Mexico terminal of Galveston waiting to discharge its cargo, according to Refinitiv ship tracking.

 

Iran natural gas export rises 9% in 2022

A report by the Energy Institute (EI) shows that Iran exported 18.9 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas in 2022, registering 9%YoY growth.

As reported, in its 72nd edition of the Statistical Review of World Energy, the UK-based institute noted that Iranian gas export accounted for 2.5 percent of the world's total natural gas trade through the pipeline last year.

The Islamic Republic had exported 17.3 bcm of natural gas in 2021, according to the entity.

The total global trade of natural gas through pipelines in 2022 was 718 bcm, which indicates a growth of 2% as compared to the earlier year. In 2021, about 704 bcm of natural gas was exported through pipelines across the globe.

The increase in Iranian gas export during 2022 was more than four times the average growth of the global trade of the product, said the report.

Of Iran's total export of 18.9 bcm in the previous year, 9.4 bcm were exported to Iraq, 9.1 bcm to Turkey, and 0.4 bcm to the Republic of Azerbaijan.

The EI also noted that Iran’s natural gas production has increased 2.5 times more than the global average over the past 10 years.

According to the EI report, natural gas production in Iran has been on an upward trend since 2011, and the US sanctions have not been able to stop or reverse the growth of gas production in Iran.

Between 2012 and 2022, natural gas production in Iran has grown by an average of 5.2% annually, which is more than 2.5 times the global average growth. The world's natural gas production has grown by an average of two percent per year during this period.

Most of Iran’s natural gas comes from the country’s giant South Pars gas field which the Islamic Republic shares with Qatar in the Persian Gulf.

The huge offshore field covers an area of 9,700 square kilometers, 3,700 square kilometers of which are in Iran’s territorial waters in the Persian Gulf. The remaining 6,000 square kilometers, called North Dome, are situated in Qatar’s territorial waters.

South Pars is estimated to contain a significant amount of natural gas, accounting for about 8% of the world’s reserves, and approximately 18 billion barrels of condensate.