Tanker got rid of dirty oil from Azerbaijan: two-month cruise is legal

A tanker carrying contaminated oil from Azerbaijan for more than two months has unloaded raw materials to Sardinia. Before that, the ship had to wander along Europe, while, obviously, the owners of the cargo were looking for buyers.

The Delta Blue tanker unloaded at the Saros refinery terminal on Sardinia. According to AIS of vessels, on September 24 the tanker has already departed further to The Mediterranean Sea and its draft dropped to 9 meters. Thus, the more than two-month misadventures of the vessel with contaminated oil from Azerbaijan have come to an end.

Back on July 17, the tanker received cargo in the Turkish port of Ceyhan and headed towards Northwestern Europe. On the same day, the Turkish terminal itself, where the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline approaches, was stopped due to the discovery of contaminated oil. But the ship went on and only stopped running off the coast of Portugal in the Atlantic Ocean. After that, it maneuvered in one area for almost a month and only at the end of August set a course for Sardinia, where it remained anchored for another three weeks.

Obviously, the original buyers refused to accept the batch and the owner had to look for new ones, which turned out to be difficult.

Oil contaminated with organic chlorides can be used at refineries, but it must be mixed with pure raw materials in such a proportion that the chloride content meets technical standards and does not damage the equipment of the plants.

As EADaily reported, the receipt of substandard raw materials was previously announced in Italy, Romania, the Czech Republic and Austria. Organic chlorides are used to stimulate production growth, but must be removed before oil is supplied to the pipeline, as they can damage refinery equipment.

Chloride contamination of Azerbaijani oil has become an unpleasant event for its producers and suppliers. The premium for the Azeri Light variety has fallen to a minimum over the past four years, Reuters reported.