October 2018 was a very busy month for Syria as three shipments of crude oil arrived from Iran versus just one in September. It went from 33,125 barrels per day to 100,525 bpd. That’s a very significant boost, and most likely on account of the availability of Iran’s smaller Suezmax tankers. Two of the three shipments that arrived in Syria were actually sent during the month from Iran, as it takes 2-3 weeks to deliver. We can also say that Iran dispatched three shipments during October to Syria, so there’s always more coming. 100Kbpd is quite a lot for one month. All of the imports were cloaked upon arrival by switching off their AIS transponders the moment they left the Suez Canal. They were then switched back on when arriving back at the canal.
Israel imports in a much similar manner, by also cloaking its arrivals. Some tanker operators switch off days ahead of arrival while others do so in the last few hours or day at most. We can see that Israel’s imports aren’t what they used to be, meaning that there is no real excess going into storage, but strictly satisfying demand at best. What we also can see is that they’ve broaden their sources of oil by importing from west African nations like the Republic of Congo and Nigeria; both of which are OPEC member states.
Syria October 2018 Crude Oil Imports in Barrels Per Day
| Source | Barrels / Day | Total Barrels | Percentage By Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Iran | 100,525 | 3,116,273 | 100.00% |
| Total | 100,525 | 3,116,273 | |
| Value ($75.47/barrel) | $7,586,622 | $235,185,274 |
Israel October 2018 Crude Oil Imports in Barrels Per Day
| Source | Barrels / Day | Total Barrels | Percentage By Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kurdistan Regional Government of northern Iraq | 93,396 | 2,895,271 | 37.54% |
| Russia | 58,197 | 1,804,096 | 23.39% |
| Azerbaijan | 37,524 | 1,163,257 | 15.08% |
| Nigeria | 32,306 | 1,001,482 | 12.99% |
| Republic of Congo | 27,338 | 847,468 | 10.99% |
| Total | 248,760 | 7,711,573 | |
| Value ($75.47/barrel) | $18,773,917 | $581,992,414 |
Images courtesy of Planet.