Iran denies Western reports of oil shipment incident near Singapore

Ministry of Petroleum of Iran

Iran’s Oil Ministry has dismissed Western media reports of a maritime incident involving an Iranian crude oil shipment near Singapore.

On Friday morning, media reported that two large oil tankers were on fire after a collision near Singapore. According to news agencies Reuters and Bloomberg, one of the ships was carrying about two million barrels of oil from Iran to China.

“None of the damaged tankers had anything to do with Iran,” the Oil Ministry said in a statement.

“Furthermore, the crude oil cargo of neither of the two damaged tankers is owned by Iran,” it added.

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) said it was alerted to a fire on board both the Singapore-flagged tanker Hafnia Nile and the São Tomé and Príncipe-flagged tanker Ceres I in the early morning hours of July 19, approximately 55 kilometres northeast of Pedra Branca in Singapore’s Maritime Search and Rescue Region.

According to TankerTrackers.com, the Hafnia Nile collided with the starboard bow of the Ceres I on Friday morning in international waters off the Riau Archipelago.

Authorities in Singapore said they had sent a helicopter to assist in the evacuation of the crew.

According to the Singapore Maritime Agency, there were a total of 22 crew members on board the Hafnia Nile and 40 crew members on board the Ceres I. All crew members have been found.

According to reports, shipping in the area was not disrupted, but authorities were on alert to provide assistance in the event of an oil spill.


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