The most remarkable news of the past week was that on February 20, the Albanian police detained a Liberian-flagged ship suspected of transporting Russian oil in the port of Durres. It was reported that the volume of transported oil was 22,500 tons, and the market value was 40 million euros.
The sensational part of the news for us was the claim made by the police that the ship departed from Azerbaijan and was loaded onto another ship at the Greek port of Kalamata. The strange thing is that the influential Reuters, the Albanian office of "Radio Liberty", Armenian, dozens of Albanian and Iranian and other countries' media spread this information without clarification.
Faktyoxla Lab. has investigated whether the oil-carrying ship arrested by the Albanian police belongs to Azerbaijan.
Since the report published by the police and Reuters did not provide a detailed explanation, we tried to clarify the information from other open sources.
The tanker Grace Felix was detained at the port of Durres by the Albanian State Police, and her 22 crewmembers were arrested. It was carrying a cargo of 22,500 tons of petroleum, which she had reportedly loaded in a ship-to-ship transfer near Kalamata, Greece. AIS data provided by Pole Star confirms her presence off the Pelopponese on Feb. 10-12, and she arrived at Durres' anchorage on February 14.
According to the media, the police had intelligence information from the beginning about the cargo on board "Grace Felix" coming from Russia. "The inspectors who boarded the ship discovered that there were no relevant documents for the cargo," the police said.
The tanker "Grace Felix" gives us a clue to continue the investigation. GRACE FELIX (IMO: 9391402) is a Chemical/Oil Products Tanker built in 2008 (15 years old) and currently sailing under the flag of Liberia. (source)
In other information we received, it is said that the ship built in 2008, sailing under the flag of Liberia, belongs to the subsidiary company "Grace Felix Shipping Ltd" of the Cyprus company "Cymare Shipmanagement Ltd". source
According to the documents obtained by A2 CNN, the buyer of the oil product carried by the seized tanker is the company "IBGAS AG" registered in the Porto Romano free zone of Albania, and the oil product is sold to Albanian companies. source
In the same source, it is noted that in the monitoring carried out by the authorities, it was found that the cargo was transported by the "FIDAN" ship, which was loaded in the Russian port of "Novorossiysk" on January 20. According to the satellite photos and other information obtained, the "FIDAN" ship started moving from the port of Novorossiysk and delivered the oil product, believed to belong to Russia, to the "Grace Felix" ship, which was arrested by the Albanian police in Lakonikos Bay, Greece.
Now let's examine the ships and companies whose names are mentioned in this information.
The company "Cymare Shipmanagement Ltd" was registered on 27.07.12 by the Cyprus Companies Registration Register under the number HE309832. Located at Larnaca-Dhekelias, 6303, Cyprus. Organization status is active. Currently, there are 4 official administrators. The register shows that these persons are: Andrei Hudzasvili, "Peremoga Investment Ltd" and Victoria Orlova Papadouri as directors.
When looking for the companies included in the holding (Cymare Shipmanagement Ltd, Cymare Crew Ltd, Cymare Shipmanagement Ltd, Morskiy Promin Ltd) not a single Azerbaijani surname was found not only in the management, but also among the ordinary employees (Sergii Misiuna (citizen of Ukraine) Office manager Konstantin Brus (Cyprus) technical manager, Popi Ioannou (Cyprus), Mikhail Biryukov (Russia), Petr Firsov (Russia) and others).
What did we learn about IB Gas AG, the buyer of the oil?
IB Gas AG is a limited liability company located in Sarnen, Canton of Obwalden, Switzerland. "IB Gas AG" with UID number CHE-240.224.392 was founded on 31.01.2012 by Albanian national Sandra Patwary Roch (member of the management board). Currently, the decision-makers are Sandra Patwary Roch (President) and Orledia Bare (Board Member). Not a single Azerbaijani surname, nor a person with Azerbaijani citizenship was found in the management of this company or among its employees.
Russian version available here
During the investigation, we were able to confirm that the captain of the tanker is Russian citizen Alexei Smaznov. The captain of the tanker, Smaznov, told the investigation that he works on a ship owned by a Libyan company. (However, the ship sails under the flag of Liberia-ed.) But the captain could not give a convincing explanation about the shipping address of the cargo and the lack of a certificate of origin of this amount of oil. He told the investigation that he was just a carrier and added that the oil product on the ship was ordered by some Albanian oil agency. After that, the police established that the client company was called "AV International Group", owned by Piro Bare, who is involved in the hydrocarbon business, and managed by Orledia Bare. Orledia Bare, as we mentioned before, is one of the managers of "IB Gas AG" company, registered in Switzerland, which is the buyer of the oil product carried by the seized tanker.
Piro Bare
Based on this information, Durres police contacted businessman Piro Bare and went to the office of "AV International Group" company. Piro Bare explained to the police and said that he was negotiating with a company from Libya to buy a certain amount of oil and bring it to Albania. Bare noted that the company he ordered and exchanged several e-mails with is called "Ses Dmch Group". The businessman said that the oil was ordered not from Russia, but from Libya.
Thus, the sequence of events leading up to the police operation was as follows: When the ship entered the waters of the Adriatic Sea, Piro Bare submitted documents to the customs authorities of the port of Durres (Albania) to unload this cargo into containers in Albania's "Porto Romano". Due to problems with the documents, Piro Bare was unable to "pass" the Durres customs office to bring the oil to Albania, and as a result, he decided to refuse the shipment due to the complexity of procedures at the customs of the port of Durres. With that, the oil ship, suspected of coming from Russia, remained at sea and was arrested.
Now, let's clarify the origin of the "FIDAN" tanker, which came from Azerbaijan, according to the Albanian police. The vessel "FIDAN" (IMO: 9423736) is a chemical/oil tanker built in 2009 (14 years ago) and currently sailing under the flag of Türkiye. source
It was noted that the cargo was transported to the port of Greece by the "FIDAN" ship, which was loaded in the Russian port of "Novorossiysk" on January 20. This information is correct. So, this fact coincides with the information released by the center, which monitors the movements of cargo and ships.
Thus, neither the customer, nor the receiving company or the carrier have anything to do with Azerbaijan. Even the Albanian press writes that "although the Prosecutor's Office of Durres, which is following the case, says that the ship is from Azerbaijan, the oil was loaded from the Russian port of Novorossiysk on the Black Sea." In other words, the Albanian press is surprised that the name of Azerbaijan is mentioned in such a scandalous issue.
Let's clarify this issue as well.
The Albanian police released the preliminary information about the incident on February 20, 2023 on their official Facebook page.
The report gave a brief reference to the incident and noted that the police structures operating in Durres, especially the Economic and Financial Crimes Unit in Durres, received information about a Liberian-flagged ship engaged in smuggling a large amount of oil. "On the basis of this information, a police operation with the code "Embargo" was organized, and as part of the operation, a Liberian-flagged ship was prevented from transporting oil to Albania with false documents. In the preliminary investigative actions, it is assumed that these shipments were carried out from countries with an oil embargo, specifically from Russia. It is alleged that the ship departed from Azerbaijan and was loaded with oil in the amount of 22,500 tons of diesel fuel from another ship in the Greek port of Kalamata.
For those who do not know about geography, Azerbaijan has no direct geographical connection with the Black Sea. Therefore, there can be two explanations for making such a claim. Either the usual geographical knowledge of the investigators is insufficient, or they are participants in some purposeful disinformation scenario.
First of all, the Azerbaijani Navy has 52 tankers across the country, 20 of which are involved in the transportation of oil and oil-fuel products. In other words, the work schedule for tankers belonging to the Caspian Sea Fleet of Azerbaijan to transport their own oil is so tight that it does not seem realistic for them to put aside their work and transport Russian oil.
Secondly, all destinations and geographical routes of the cargo transported by tankers belonging to the Caspian Sea Oil Fleet to international ports through the Caspian Sea are known. Each ship’s name, class, flag, country of origin, cargo capacity, etc. indicators are reflected. If the ship-tanker detained by Albanian law enforcement agencies in Durres belongs to Azerbaijan, why do they not declare its name and country of origin? Why is it not indicated that the ships belonging to the Caspian Sea Oil Fleet sail under the international port number and the flag of Azerbaijan?
Thirdly, Azerbaijani tankers go to international ports by crossing seas and oceans on the basis of international certificates. Albania is located on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. In order for tankers to go to the Mediterranean Sea, it is necessary to pass through the Black, Aegean, Adriatic and other seas, straits and ports, countries. Since all these traffic routes are under the jurisdiction of those countries, the traffic directions are registered by maritime administrations and the International Maritime Administration. (The previous facts showed how this was done - ed.) Now the question arises, why was the illegal passage of 4-5 seas and ports of the Azerbaijani tanker sailing on the basis of an international certificate and receiving and transporting cargo not recorded? Is such a situation possible in general? No!
Conclusion:
- The mentioned facts - satellite images, photos, documents confirm that the information about Azerbaijan's participation in this scandalous event is fake.
- Neither the oil loaded from the port of Novorossiysk, nor the ship, whose cargo is changed on the way, has nothing to do with Azerbaijan.
- The Albanian police, who spread false information about Azerbaijan, should apologize, and the mentioned media organizations should refute it.
