How Venezuela managed its own import of Iranian gas condensate

During the 614 days between 2020-08-02 and 2022-04-07, Iran has exported 17,312,190 barrels of gas condensate (and even crude oil lately) to Venezuela; averaging out to 28,196 barrels per day. For the most part, the cargo arrives onboard NITC (National Iranian Tanker Company) VLCC supertankers. The exceptions include VLCC supertankers such as RENE (9250622) and SOLDIER (9590008). In this report, we are going to focus on the latter vessel.

MAKSIM GORKY was built in 2013, making her a significantly younger vessel in the export of Venezuelan crude oil. She is owned by the Venezuelan government via the national oil company, PDVSA. Her Flag of Convenience (FOC) however, is that of the Russian Federation. The vessel’s manager since 2020 is called Transocean Shipping Co Ltd, based in Moscow.

Back in November 2021, she departed the Jose Terminal in Venezuela with roughly 1.9 million barrels of Merey-16 crude oil towards China. The vessel crossed both the Atlantic and Indian oceans with her AIS transponder switched off and then navigated through the Indonesian archipelago in order to reach the South China Sea without using the AIS-mandatory Strait of Malacca and Singapore Strait.

After having arrived in the SCS during January 2022, MAKSIM GORKY was reportedly suffering as a result of mechanical issues, according to a Reuters report. Given that she is a VLCC supertanker, she would be able to transfer her entire cargo to three Aframax tankers dispatched from mainland China. We have managed to spot at least two of these transfers for now; one of which was even broadcasting the STS on AIS on 2022-02-18. Her name at the time was DREAM VISION, but currently goes under the name of CINDY (9270517). This vessel then transferred its share of MAKSIM GORKY’s cargo to China’s northern port of Tianjin.

In early March, the MAKSIM GORKY then handed over her final of three parcels to ANASTASIA I (9200964), which then delivered that cargo to Port Klang, Malaysia. We have seen a number of vessels deliver sanctioned oil in the past.

Following that delivery, ANASTASIA I then proceeded to the breakyard in Chittagong, Bangladesh, where she is now being scrapped.

MAKSIM GORKY then proceeded back out into the Indian Ocean via Indonesia’s archipelago, where her AIS was briefly re-activated. The vessel then continued to the anchorage of Malé, capital of the Maldives, an archipelago nation located southwest of India.

Broadcasting over AIS for a day (2022-03-26), the vessel then headed back out into the ocean east of Malé. While there, we saw her about to engage in an STS with an Iranian NITC supertanker we believe is called HERBY (9362059).

Based on the additional data we were able to retrieve, the vessels were engaged for roughly 3 days before MAKSIM GORKY then departed directly for the Jose Terminal, Venezuela, where she arrived looking exactly like a VLCC carrying 2.1 million barrels of gas condensate. The vessel is currently discharging that cargo on the northeast berth of the Jose Terminal jetty island.