We spent over two months manually identifying, measuring and cataloging potential storage space for crude oil across China. It took a lot of research as many of the high resolution satellite images were outdated.

Following our discovery of the Saudi VLCC supertanker which was purportedly attacked by Yemen's Houthis rebels off the coast of Yemen in late July, 2018...

September 2018 was (and continues to be) an educational month, and we are kind of appreciative of the fact that Iranian tankers have begun to employ a range of interesting tactics and locations to cloak their exports ahead of the November 4th sanctions deadline.

A VLCC supertanker appearing off the coast of China, now empty?!...Where did she come from? Where did she go? Where did she come from...?

Unique Oil Storage... Japan has a solution, and it's BIG! It's so big that it's visible by the naked eye from space. Each one can hold over 5.5 Million barrels.

This tanker was carrying crude oil as navigated her way south through the Aegean Sea archipelago, avoiding the obstacle course of islands that stand in her way of an open Mediterranean Sea. Once she entered high seas, the vessel disappeared off the map.

The combined total for southern Iraq (Southern region) along with the Kurdistan Regional Government (Northern region) via Ceyhan, Turkey is...

For the month of September, there was .... tanker(s) that arrived to Syria from Kharg Island, Iran. As usual, the import of these barrels were carried out in a clandestine manner.

This is a snap update on what we're seeing at the Kharg Island export terminal in Iran. We spotted four VLCC supertankers loading crude oil...

This has been a very educational month for us in terms of Iranian crude oil exports, as every day presents new discoveries in terms of clandestine activity.

We have kept track of crude oil exports by the Kurdistan Regional Government of northern Iraq to monitor the impact of the Kurdistan Independence Referendum.

US, China's ongoing "trade war"...Something to ponder...We won't speculate, but what does this say about the trade talks?

These past few weeks and months, we've talked about "clandestine transfers" in many posts, so we thought it only reasonable to give a bit more of an explanation as to what this is, how it works, why it is done and what kinds of effects this is having.

There are now 45 days to go before the US sanctions on Iran go into full effect. We have already made a great deal of observations during the past year, so here's what we know at this point.

Is Iran back to more of their old tricks? are the Tankers showing their true details or fiddling with the AIS transponders? We all wonder what this tanker will do next!

After so many years of war - it would be a surprise if the oil fields weren't properly secured by government forces as well as private security. Oil is, after all, the single largest lifeline to the nation's economy.

During the month of August 2018, Iran exported...barrels per day of crude oil and gas condensates. Crude oil accounted for around 91.72% of the total.

Imports were done in a clandestine manner, but not just on import, but also on export out of Iran. They're switching off their AIS transponders on both ends, which is new, but likely tied in with the coming US sanctions.

We published an article called "Saudi Vessel Struck Off the Coast of Yemen" moments after finding out that a tanker carrying a Saudi flag was attacked by Houthi rebels from the west coast of Yemen. Sure enough, the oddly distinct maneuver...

There's been quite a bit of discrepancy lately between our data and that of other trackers when it comes to Iranian crude oil exports. Frankly, we're surprised!