Secure Insurance News

Venezuela will contract with an Iranian shipyard to build two oil tankers under an existing construction agreement bedeviled by payment delays and difficulties with needed certifications, according to people familiar with the matter and documents.Venezuela’s state-run energy firm PDVSA since last year has redoubled efforts to buy and lease oil tankers to rebuild its own fleet. Its maritime operations have suffered from a long-standing lack of capital and U.S. sanctions that have…

Two tankers have had their environmental and safety classification withdrawn by a U.S. company that provides such certification, after accusations by a U.S. advocacy group that they had shipped cargoes of Iranian oil, documents seen by Reuters show.Countries targeted by tougher U.S. sanctions, including Iran and Venezuela, have responded to the mounting pressure with elaborate strategies to circumvent restrictions on their oil exports.Top oil shipping companies say they have in turn responded by tightening guidelines and deploying technology to prevent accidental sanctions breaches, which U.S. officials have said could lead to them being…

Iran is slowly winding down stocks of oil stored on tankers close to its shores and the process is likely to take longer than Tehran had wanted, despite the lifting of international sanctions this month. The pace of sales taken from floating storage highlights the difficulties Iran is facing amid a global oil glut and other challenges such as the certification of its fleet. Iran parked over 40 million barrels of crude and condensate, a very light grade of crude, on 20 to 25 ships after Western sanctions were imposed over its nuclear program. The sanctions stopped most countries from buying Iranian oil in recent years. Most of the ships storing oil are run by Iranian tanker operator NITC.

Efforts by Iran to start exporting oil to Europe are being held up as foreign tanker owners are still struggling to secure insurance for cargoes, leading shipping players said on Tuesday. A nuclear deal between world powers and Iran earlier this month led to the removal of curbs on Tehran's banking, insurance and shipping sectors. Since then, Iran has ordered a 500,000 barrel per day (bpd) increase in oil output, of which 200,000 bpd will go to Europe. But many foreign firms remain wary of violating other sanctions that were imposed by the United States and have not been lifted. Measures still in place from Washington prohibit most business between U.S. persons, U.S. companies and Iran as well as no dollar trades.

Italy's RINA expects to start verifying safety and environmental standards for Iranian ships including oil tankers in a matter of weeks, the classification society said, stealing a lead on rivals as business interest in Iran heats up. Without verification from such bodies, ships are unable to call at international ports or secure insurance. RINA said it had signed an agreement this week with Iran's Asia Classification Society, enabling the Genoa-headquartered group to provide services to Iranian shipping firms. Under Iranian regulations, international players have to team up with local counterparts when providing cover for Iranian flagged vessels.

Lloyd's Register (LR) is working on resuming services to verify safety and environmental standards for Iranian shipping companies, the ship classification society said on Monday. Without verification from such bodies, ships are unable to call at international ports or secure insurance. "We are now making arrangements to re-establish provision of classification services to existing tonnage and re-opening our Tehran office," LR said in a statement, without providing further details. LR, one of the world's leading classification societies, suspended operations in 2012 when tougher sanctions were imposed on Iran. On Saturday, world powers lifted measures imposed on the Islamic Republic after a nuclear deal was reached last year.