In 2011, the United States imposed sanctions on seven companies under the Iran Sanctions Act of 1996. The companies were PCCI of Jersey/Iran, Royal Oyster Group of the United Arab Emirates, Speedy Ship of UAE/Iran, Tanker Pacific of Singapore, Ofer Brothers Group of Israel, Associated Shipbroking of Monaco, and Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) of Venezuela.
Three of those companies, including Associated Shipbroking, were sanctioned for their roles in a September 2010 transaction that provided an $8.65 million tanker to the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines.
Now that the sanctions against Iran have been lightened, however, Associated Shipbroking (ASM) has announced that it has been cleared of these US sanctions.
The sanctions against ASM included being prohibited from U.S. foreign exchange transactions, banking, and property transactions. The company’s assets in the United States were frozen and it was not allowed to do business with ANY United States entity. It was also put on the blacklist belonging to the U.S. Treasury Department, Office of Foreign Assets Control.
The State Department has determined ASM is no longer taking part in any sanctionable activities, so it has been cleared to do business with the US again.
Crude Oil Realities
Even though the United States is going through an energy boom, it’s easy to lose sight of how far the country has to go to actually become energy independent. More than 7.7 million barrels of oil per day are imported from other countries. But that means room for growth in domestic drillers, and we’ve got a stock up our sleeve that is sitting right in that sweet spot.
