Iran Ends LPG Exports to Japan

Although Iran stopped liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) exports to Japan, the country’s supply will not go to waste as a large number of customers are showing their interest for the LPG, Iranian Mehr News Agency cited the Director general of the Association of Petrochemical Industry Corporations (APIC) Ahmad Mahdavi.

Mahdavi was quoted as saying that the country’s LPG has its own customers in the extent that the demand exceeds the supply.

Following the lifting of international sanctions on Iranian exports in January 2016, Mahdavi noted that the current situation on the exports shows that “insurance issues and supplying of LPG carriers have been relatively solved.”

He was also cited as saying that the major obstacle standing in the way of LPG exports was the supply of ships and that some LPG buyers received the product using their own LPG carriers.

In an effort to compete with international counterparts, at the beginning of April, Iran revealed its plans to inject USD 2.5 billion to upgrade its oil tanker fleet as it gets ready to restore pre-sanction shipping links.

Earlier this week, the country has been linked to shipbuilding orders worth up to USD 2.4 billion at South Korean yards.

Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) and oil producer Iranian Offshore Oil Co. (IOOC) are said to have reached preliminary shipbuilding deals, under which the Korean shipyards would start building the vessels in 2018 and 2019. Iranian firms are yet to secure required financing for the contracts.

The agreements come as part of Iran’s plan to modernize its aging dockyards and build bigger ships.

World Maritime News Staff