Economics
Iran’s Dark Tanker Fleet Poses Oil World’s Biggest Mystery
- Scant shipping data force tracking firms to get more creative
- Analysts are split on how much the country is still exporting
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While one Iranian tanker is attracting global attention, serious oil watchers remain absorbed by a bigger mystery: the hunt for the rest of Iran’s fleet.
The quest has led to ever more inventive methods of tracking ships, and divergent views on the amounts of crude secretly slipping into world markets. That’s because the vessels have mostly “gone dark” since sanctions were tightened this year, switching off transponders that would reveal their location.