Chinese tanker carrying Iranian oil collides with ship near Singapore

Two large oil tankers, one possibly carrying Iranian oil, were on fire on Friday after colliding near Singapore, the world's biggest refueling port, authorities and one of the tanker owners said.

Singapore is Asia's biggest oil trading hub and the world's largest bunkering port. Its surrounding waters are vital trade waterways between Asia and Europe and the Middle East and among the busiest global sea lanes. Malaysian and Singaporean waters are also locations where illicit Iranian oil shipments are transferred ship to ship and then carried to China, the major buyer of sanctioned Iranian oil.

The Singapore-flagged tanker Hafnia Nile and the Sao Tome and Principe-flagged tanker Ceres I were about 55 km (34 miles) northeast of the Singaporean island of Pedra Branca on the eastern approach to the Singapore Straits, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) said.

The 22 crew of the Hafnia Nile and the 40 on the Ceres I were all accounted for, the MPA said, which was alerted to the fire at 6:15 a.m. (2215 GMT)

The owner of Hafnia Nile confirmed the vessel was involved in a collision with Chinese owned Ceres I.

Photographs released by the Singapore Navy showed thick black smoke billowing from one tanker and crew being rescued from life rafts and flown to hospital.

The environmental authorities in neighboring Malaysia said they had been told to prepare for potential oil spills.

Norway’s Gard, one of Hafnia Nile’s insurers, told Reuters it was too early to assess the environmental impact.

Navigational traffic had not been affected, although the status of the vessels or any pollution was unknown at present, a spokesperson at the UN's International Maritime Organization (IMO) said.

"No aerial surveillance has been conducted so far," the spokesperson said.

"Salvage and fire-fighting assets have been arranged by both vessel owners to support the fire-fighting efforts and subsequent towage of the vessels to safety."

The IMO spokesperson said a salvage team had been appointed and was en route to the area.

The 74,000 deadweight-tons capacity panamax tanker Hafnia Nile was carrying about 300,000 barrels of naphtha, according to ship-tracking data from Kpler and LSEG.

The Ceres I is a very large crude carrier supertanker, which ship-tracking data last showed was carrying around 2 million barrels of Iranian crude.

"The Ceres I has been a boat that has gone dark many times over the years," said Matt Stanley, head of market engagement EMEA & APAC with Kpler, referring to when vessels switch off their AIS tracking transponders.

Stanley said the last AIS signal the vessel transmitted around March indicated it was carrying Iranian crude, which the US has tried to curtail, including imposing sanctions on ports, vessels and refineries involved in the trade.

"She was at anchorage (on Friday). We can be fairly sure that she was carrying Iranian crude and was going to China," Stanley said.

Shadow fleet risks

In May, Brian Nelson, US Treasury's undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence visited Singapore and Malaysia to advance its work in countering financing and revenue generation by Iran and its proxies. During the trip he said the United States saw Iran's capacity to move its oil as reliant on service providers based in Malaysia, with oil being transferred near Singapore.

Iran has increased it oil shimemts to China at least fivefold since early 2021, now selling around 1.5 million barrels a day. It is believed that the Biden administration relaxed US sanction enforcement on Iranian oil, hoping to reach agreement on curtailing Tehran’s nuclear program.

S&P Global said in an April report that China buys around 90% of Iran's crude exports, often at discounted prices.

The Ceres I has not moved since July 11, according to LSEG shipping data.

The area Ceres I is anchored in is known to be used by so-called dark fleet ships for the transfer of Iranian oil in contravention of US sanctions, said Michelle Wiese Bockmann, principal analyst at Lloyd's List Intelligence.

"The Ceres I has repeatedly been involved in transferring or shipping Iranian oil in breach of US sanctions," she said.

Shipping sources have said the tanker was also involved in transporting Venezuelan oil, which is also under US sanctions, to China in recent years.

The China-based owner of the Ceres I could not immediately be reached for comment. China has repeatedly said it is opposed to unilateral sanctions.

Up to 850 oil tankers are estimated to operate the shadow fleet transporting oil from countries such as Iran and Venezuela as well as Russia, which has multiple restrictions on its oil exports.

With reporting by Reuters