Iranian oil tanker arrives in Venezuelan waters

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According to a shipping document seen by Reuters on Monday, the third oil cargo from Naftiran Intertrade Corporation limited (NICO) is being delivered to Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA), a Venezuelan oil company.

The Iranian flag oil tanker carrying about one million barrels of crude oil entered Venezuelan waters, according to Reuters.

This is part of an agreement between the Islamic Republic of Iran and Venezuela to prepare the way for the sale of Iranian light crude oil to the Latin American country, therefore Venezuelan refineries have begun refining Iranian crude oil for a while.

Since 2020, the two countries have worked on expanding cooperation, especially in energy projects and oil trade amid the draconian US sanctions that they have been repeatedly subjected to. This has helped both countries ease the effects of the sanctions on their economies.

Read more: President Raisi hails Iran-Venezuela strategic cooperation 

According to Refinitiv Eikon data, the Iranian-flagged Suezmax Sonia 1 oil tanker set sail from Kharg Port in southern Iran in early May and landed in the Venezuelan seas on Saturday.

Last month, two more massive oil tankers flying the Iranian flag (Dino 1 and Sylvia 1) landed in Venezuelan ports. The first Iranian crude oil shipment was delivered to the Latin American country by two oil ships.

According to PDVSA data, the two Iranian oil ships carried Venezuelan heavy crude oil for Iran.

The arrival of the Iranian oil tanker in the Venezuelan seas coincided with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's visit to Tehran on the third stage of his Asia tour.

On Saturday, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his Iranian counterpart President Ebrahim Raisi attended the delivery ceremony of the second oil tanker, dubbed Aframax 2. The sailboat was built in Tehran by Iran's Sadra Company.

The Aframax 2 oil tanker departed Bushehr on Wednesday for maritime testing in the Persian Gulf. Iranian engineers created Aframax 2 in two years.

The ship features a 21,000 horsepower propulsion engine and three diesel generators, each capable of producing 900 kilowatts of electricity. Venezuela and Iran have agreed to buy four tankers for 240 million dollars.

President Maduro led a high-level team to Tehran on June 10 to sign a 20-year cooperation agreement with Iran in the political, cultural, tourist, economic, energy, and petrochemical spheres.