Major oil firms and trade houses are gradually resuming energy trading with Iran but efforts remain very cautious and often face huge legal obstacles, meaning a post-sanctions return to full-scale activity will take weeks if not months.
Trading sources told Reuters major trading houses Gunvor and Vitol have each delivered several cargoes of gasoline into Iran in the past few weeks. Gunvor and Vitol declined to comment.
Meanwhile, Swiss trading house Litasco of Russian oil major Lukoil (LKOH.MM) had to cancel a booking of a tanker to transport oil from Iran to Italy in early February due to what trading sources described as ship insurance difficulties.
Trading sources on Wednesday cited preliminary fixtures being made by Glencore (GLEN.L) and Total (TOTF.PA) for tankers to lift Iranian crude in February although it was still unclear if the deals had been concluded partly due to insurance issues.
“It is still very difficult despite the sanctions removal. Dollar clearing is an issue, banks’ letters of credit is an issue, ship insurance is an issue. Loads of people are still very cautious,” said a senior trading executive.
Leading shipping players say efforts by Iran to start exporting oil to Europe are being held up as tanker owners are still struggling to secure insurance for cargoes.
via Reuters
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Alfonso Esparza
trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.
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