Vietnam Oil Firm Urges US to Let Tanker Pass

The trading arm of Vietnam’s state oil company has urged the US Navy to allow a tanker carrying Iraqi crude through its blockade in the Persian Gulf region, according to a letter from Petrovietnam Oil Corporation to US military and diplomatic officials.

The Maltese-flagged supertanker Agio Fanourios I is carrying two million barrels of Iraqi Basra crude for Vietnam’s Nghi Son refinery. Ship-tracking data showed that the vessel sailed out of the Strait of Hormuz on 10 May and was in the Gulf of Oman before making a U-turn on 11 May.

US Central Command said the vessel had been diverted as part of efforts to enforce the blockade against Iran. It was not immediately clear whether Washington would eventually allow the tanker to continue to Vietnam.

PVOIL vice president Le Manh Cuong warned in the letter that the cargo was vital to both the Nghi Son refinery and Vietnam. He said feedstock inventories were critically low and that further delays could threaten the refinery’s operations and fuel supplies for millions of people.

The company said the tanker was carrying Iraqi Basra crude sold by Iraq’s state oil marketer SOMO and that the cargo had no connection to Iran.

(reuters, bak)