First Indian tanker loads Iranian crude oil post sanctions
MT DistyaAkula is the first Indian Suezmax tanker to load 130,000 mt of Iranian crude for Litasco, the trading arm of Russia's Lukoil three weeks after the removal of sanctions against Iran.
DistyaAkula, Sanskrit for ‘Fortune Transcendental’, has a deadweight tonnage of 150,000 tonnes.
Built by Mitsui Ichihara Engineering and Shipbuilding, Ichihara, Japan, DistyaAkula previously known as Front Glory is 269 meters long drawing a draft of 17 meters. She has the capacity of carrying a full load of about 149,000 metric tonnes of oil cargoes equivalent to about 6000 oil carrying road trucks of standard size.
As per reports DistyaAkula replaces the Eurospirit which was first to be booked by Litasco on January 26, 2016.
The loading of the crude is scheduled to take place from 5th to 11th February, 2016. Previously DistyaAkula was in the Persian Gulf heading towards Al Basrah on January 31, 2016. Post loading, the vessel will travel from Kharg Island in the Persian Gulf to Constanta in the Black Sea.
The next Suezmax loading out of Kharg Island will supposedly be a vessel chartered by a Spanish refiner, Cepsa, according to media reports. Cepsa is said to be set to use the Suezmax tanker the Monte Toledo to lift 130,000 mt of crude from Kharg Island to Spain.
