FILE PHOTO: A worker collects a crude oil sample at an oil well operated by Venezuela's state oil company PDVSA in Morichal, Venezuela, July 28, 2011. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins
The three companies - Muhit Maritime, Issa Shipping FZE and Asia Charm Ltd - did not respond to letters sent to their listed addresses, or to emails sent to their registered email addresses. Reuters was unable to determine the ultimate owners of the three. Their ownership and management details aren’t listed in the UAE’s publicly-available corporate registry.
The three companies’ shipments of Venezuelan crude and fuel represented about 3.9% of the South American country’s total oil exports in 2020 through Dec. 18. That oil was worth around $208.5 million at market prices for the country’s flagship crude grade, known as Merey. Crude sales provide much-needed support to Maduro’s government, though Reuters could not determine how much was added to state coffers.
“The UAE takes its role in protecting the integrity of the global financial system extremely seriously. This means actively administering and enforcing economic and trade sanctions,” the government added. Washington has accused another country under heavy sanctions, Iran, of using Emirati companies to facilitate crude exports. The U.S. Treasury has sanctioned more than half a dozen UAE-based entities this year, alleging they were involved in purchasing or brokering the sale of Iranian oil and petrochemical products in violation of its sanctions, and in some instances falsifying documents to conceal the origin.
Determining who’s behind a tanker can be difficult. Oil tankers often are run by a management firm that is in charge of the crew and can administer freight contracts. The management company can be a separate entity from the registered owner, which is typically a special purpose vehicle that owns just that vessel. But it is also common for the manager to own the special purpose vehicle.
Between July and August, Muhit Maritime took over management of three other Eurotankers-operated vessels, according to Equasis, a database maintained by a group of national maritime administrations. A shipping document shows that on July 31, the newly rebranded Almada set sail carrying some 650,000 barrels of Venezuelan Boscan crude after a ship-to-ship transfer from the Alasfal off Venezuela’s coast.
The vessel tracking data doesn’t make clear the ultimate destination of the Almada’s cargo. The Almada in October again changed its name as well as its registered owner and shipping manager, according to Equasis. Reuters was unable to identify who’s behind the new entities. The three ships are the only vessels in Issa Shipping’s fleet, the database shows. Issa Shipping was established in the second half of 2019, according to the Fujairah Free Zone Authority.
Dick Borman, quality and safety management advisor at Lundqvist Rederierna, said selling the tanker “was simply a business decision” because it no longer fit the fleet’s age profile.One tanker Asia Charm took over management of is now called the Yoselin. In recent months, the Yoselin has carried Venezuelan crude and fuel to other tankers off the country’s coast that then proceeded to export it. Among the ships that took on Yoselin’s oil are the Marbella, Kelly and Rene, now run by Issa.
There are much more authoritarian regimes that benefit from the UAE-hub.
Okay, but They talk about a humanitarian crisis in Venezuela right? But who is guilty? Where are the billions that the USA confiscated from the sale already made of oil from Venezuela? What about the gold that English banks also confiscated? Who are the real criminals?
sure & wasn't it nice of us to normalize their relations with israel while we were at it?! i wonder if israel is taking advantage of this UAE-Venezuela hub now too?