Super Oil Tanker Under US Sanction Refloats

The U.S.-sanctioned oil supertanker Young Yong has  been towed to an anchorage area in Nipah, Indonesia, after the stranded tanker was successfully refloated, Commander of Indonesia’s First Fleet Arsyad Abdullah said on Thursday.

A VLCC  Young Yong  which ran aground off Indonesia has been refloated and is reportedly carrying sanctioned Venezuelan oil.

The tugboats that had surrounded the ship were also dispersing, data on Refinitiv Eikon and MarineTraffic website showed.

On Refinitiv Eikon, Young Yong’s status has been changed to “restricted maneuverability” from “aground,” which would indicate the vessel is floating but that the crew does not have full control of the vessel.

The United States allowed some transactions necessary to dock and anchor the Young Yong safely and make repairs as part of the efforts to free the vessel. The supertanker ran aground off Indonesia’s Riau Islands on Oct. 26 near a gas pipeline. It had been heading to Nipah, a ship-to-ship transfer hub.

The United States last week issued sanctions against an international oil smuggling network it said supports Hezbollah and Iran’s elite Quds Force, targeting dozens of people, companies and tankers as Washington sought to increase pressure on Tehran.

The Young Yong was among the vessels sanctioned through its ownership.

The supertanker is filled with about 2 million barrels of Venezuelan fuel oil after receiving the cargo through ship-to-ship operations last month, according to vessel monitoring services.

The vessel ran aground off Indonesia on the evening of October 26 and its owner Technology Bright was subsequently placed under sanction by the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) as part of a crackdown on an oil smuggling ring with ties to Iran.

Prior to the grounding, Singaporean authorities warned the vessel of shallow water and the risk of grounding.

OFAC greenlit some transaction related to the vessel to enable its recovery and escort to port, as well as to ensure the safety of the crew. No delivery of the cargo has been approved.

The successful refloating operation included the offloading of some of the vessel’s cargo. Once afloat, the vessel was towed by tugs to an anchorage.

Since coming under sanction, the vessel has lost both its Djibouti flag and ABS class.

Concern has been raised over the safety implications of a growing “dark fleet” of tankers operating outside of international maritime regulation. Operating outside of the law, the vessels are often older, in a questionable state of repair and without the statutory protections for crew.