Tehran says no Iranian crude on tankers that collided off Singapore

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA — Neither of two oil tankers that collided off Singapore on Friday carried Iranian crude, the Iranian oil ministry said Saturday. 

“The crude oil of neither of these damaged oil tankers was related to Iran and did not belong to Iran,” the ministry said in a statement on its website. 

Malaysia's coast guard said Saturday that one of the two large oil tankers involved in the collision that led to fires on both had left the location of the accident and was believed to have turned off its tracking system. 

The coast guard said it was tracking the whereabouts of the Sao Tome and Principe-flagged tanker Ceres I, which was suspected to be within Malaysian waters. 

The Ceres I was involved in a collision reported early Friday with the Singapore-flagged Hafnia Nile about 55 kilometers (35 miles) northeast of the Singaporean island of Pedra Branca, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore, or MPA, said Friday. 

The 40 crew on the Ceres I were all accounted for, the MPA said, adding that 14 were evacuated by a Singapore Air Force helicopter while 26 were conducting firefighting operations onboard. 

The Chinese owner of the Ceres I could not be reached for comment. 

All 22 crew aboard the Hafnia Nile were evacuated and arrived in Singapore, its operator said Friday. 

Hafnia, the operator of Hafnia Nile, said Friday a tug was on scene to assist the ship, with specialized tugs en route to join firefighting efforts. 

A video taken Saturday and posted by the Malaysian coast guard showed the charred Hafnia Nile afloat.

The exact circumstances leading to the incident are unknown.

Singapore's MPA did not immediately respond to a request for comment Saturday.

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.

However, Iran's oil ministry denied Saturday that either ship was carrying Iranian crude.

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

Matt Stanley, head of market engagement for EMEA & APAC with Kpler, said Friday that the Ceres I has "gone dark" many times, referring to when vessels switch off their tracking transponders.

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

Singapore is Asia's biggest oil-trading hub and the world's largest bunkering port. Its surrounding waters are among the busiest global sea lanes.