Production has slumped and supplies of Iranian crude are being squeezed
’s journey, a 12,000-mile slog around the Cape of Good Hope that came to an inelegant end off the coast of Gibraltar. In the early hours of July 4th British marines roped down from a helicopter to seize the tanker, which held 2m barrels of Iranian oil. Britain says the cargo was bound for Syria, and that by traversing European waters it violated European sanctions. It has not been a good summer for tankers trying to reach Syria.
Before the war Syria produced about 385,000 barrels of oil a day. Most was put to domestic use. Output is now less than one-tenth of that. Iran helped fill the gap for several years, supplying about 50,000 barrels a day on easy terms, equivalent to more than one-third of Syria’s current consumption. But with Iran under harsher American sanctions that has become untenable. It stopped the handouts in October. Fuel shortages soon followed in Syria, as did blackouts during a cold winter.
The Suez Canal would have been more direct, but the heaviest tankers cannot sail straight through. They must offload their cargo first and have it piped to the other side. The pipeline is partly owned by Saudi Arabia, which forbids Iran from using it. And maritime-traffic data suggest that Egyptian authorities may be blocking lighter vessels from crossing Suez if their destination is Syria. One tanker, the, has been anchored near the canal’s southern entrance since April.
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