“We do not comment on our trading activities. Shell complies with all applicable sanctions.”-Royal Dutch Shell statement

An Iranian 270,000 ton supertanker, called Delvar, just docked in Singapore.  It’s delivering a huge load of oil for a major European/U.S. oil company: Royal Dutch Shell.

Before docking in Singapore, the Delvar transferred 60,000 tons of oil/condensate to a Chinese ship.

Despite the above recent quote from Royal Dutch Shell, on February 2, 2012, the CEO of the company said: “We will comply with the sanctions and we will therefore get our oil from somewhere else.”-Peter Voser, Chief Executive Royal Dutch Shell

Yet, a Singapore official confirmed that Royal Dutch Shell just bought 1.5 million barrels of Iranian oil: “Yes, Shell bought it. There is no other reason for the ship to be anchored at Bukom.”-unnamed ship broker

The U.S./European imposed sanctions against Iranian oil.  Also, on February 21, Iran banned oil sales to European Union countries, unless they signed new contracts under Iranian terms.  The Iranians have also stopped oil shipments to Britain and France. Royal Dutch Shell is partly owned by the British (about 40%).

Royal Dutch Shell gets about 100,000 barrels per day of Iranian oil, for Europe, and another 100,000 bpd for Japan.

The fact that Royal Dutch Shell (5th largest oil and gas company in the world) is still doing business with Iran indicates they’ve signed onto the new Iranian oil deal.  However, some oil traders do not think so: “I would not be surprised if they continued to ‘lift’ a little bit, until it becomes illegal to do so.”-unnamed oil trader