US intercepts oil tanker in transit from Russia to New Orleans.

US authorities have stopped a ship traveling from Russia to Louisiana with a cargo of fuel products, according to sources familiar with the situation.

The Daytona tanker is owned by Greek shipowner TMS Tankers Ltd. and chartered by Vitol, a Swiss commodity trading house. According to the data, it sailed from Russia's Taman peninsula in the Black Sea in early June carrying fuel oil and vacuum gas oil and was scheduled to arrive in New Orleans on Sunday.

According to people familiar with the situation and shipping data, the ship was unable to discharge its cargo. It is being checked by US Customs and Border Protection, according to one of the people and a US Coast Guard official.

“Vitol operates its business in full compliance with all relevant laws and regulations, including sanctions,” a spokesperson said by email. She declined to comment further. Officials at TMS Tankers declined to comment.

Following Russia's military operation in Ukraine, the United States imposed an oil embargo in March, prohibiting imports of crude, petroleum fuels, liquefied natural gas, and coal from the country.

According to data from Kpler, a commodity flows tracking platform, the cargo on the Daytona is of Russian origin. Typically, fuel oil is used in boilers and furnaces, while vacuum gas oil is refined into gasoline and diesel.

The embargo does not apply to crude and refined products that have passed through Russia, such as Kazakh oil, which uses the pipeline network of its neighbor to reach ports. The Taman peninsula terminal handles both Russian and Kazakh oil products.

According to a shipping company that operates in the region, approximately 25% of the products shipped from this terminal are Kazakh, with the remainder being Russian.

“I find it very surprising that given the US import ban, anyone would be doing this,” said Livia Gallarati, an oil markets analyst at Energy Aspects. “It could be Kazakh. Although Kazakh exports of oil products to international markets are minimal.”

US piracy; not a first

It goes without saying that the US has a long history of seizing oil tankers.

In one instance, in 2020, Washington seized "four cargoes of Iranian fuel aboard foreign ships that were bound for Venezuela and transferred them with the help of undisclosed foreign partners onto two other ships which then sailed to the United States," Reuters highlighted.

Earlier, Greek authorities have had an oil tanker flying the Iranian flag impounded in one of its ports since last April 20, sources reported to Al Mayadeen, citing US attempts to seize its oil cargo following US intervention and huge pressures.

A Greek source said that following a “judicial intervention by U.S. authorities concerning the ship’s cargo” the process is underway at the US government's expense, without providing any valid reason.

According to Reuters, it was unclear whether the oil was seized for carrying Iranian oil or due to anti-Russian sanctions, but one fact cannot go unnoticed; the oil-thirsty US is willing to do anything to quench its thirst.

According to BIRN news agency, the 115,500-deadweight tonnage tanker is originally Russian-flagged but has changed its flag to an Iranian one to avoid EU and US sanctions over the war in Ukraine.

Footage released by #Iranian media documenting the moment #Iran's Coast Guard seized two #Greek oil tankers. pic.twitter.com/iulItdmMF3
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) May 30, 2022

Iranian media reported two days following that incident that Iran's Coast Guard seized two Greek oil tankers, the Delta Poseidon and the Prudent Warrior, off the coast of Aslaviyeh and Bandar Lengeh.

Iranian media outlets said that Tehran has made the decision to take punitive measures against Greece on account of the latter's seizing of an Iranian oil tanker close to its coasts.