Italian refiner Iplom SpA booked a tanker to load Iranian oil this week, four months before a European Union embargo on the Persian Gulf nation, data from three shipbrokers including Poten & Partners Inc. showed.

 

The private company chartered the Album to carry 80,000 metric tons to Italy from Kharg Island, according to the shipping reports. The Panama-flagged vessel is now under way in the Persian Gulf, transmissions captured by AISLive on Bloomberg show. It is insured by the Luxembourg-based West of England Ship Owners Mutual Insurance Association, a member of the International Group of P&I Clubs, located in London.

 

Iran, the second-largest producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, faces an EU embargo on the purchase, transportation, financing and insurance of its crude as of July 1 because of the country’s nuclear program. The ban affects 95 percent of the world’s tankers because they are insured by the International Group’s 13 members, according to Andrew Bardot, the organization’s executive officer.

 

Carrying Iranian oil invalidates ships’ coverage against risks including spills and collisions, Bardot said Jan. 26. Jerry Westmore, a director of West of England in London, declined to comment.
 

Delivery Site

 

Iplom takes delivery of oil at the port of Genoa-Multedo, according to the company’s website. The refiner didn’t respond to a telephone call and e-mail to its office in Genoa outside business hours.

 

Italy imported the biggest volume of Iranian crude outside Asia in the first half of 2011, taking 7 percent of its exports, the latest available figures from the U.S. Energy Department show. The government in Tehran said Feb. 19 it halted shipments to customers in France and the U.K., preempting the ban. China, Japan, India and South Korea were the largest buyers, purchasing a combined 59 percent.
 

(Source: Bloomberg)