First Iranian ship sets sail for Asia with 2 million barrels of oil aboard

THE National Iranian Tanker Co's (NITC) 317,000-dwt Starla, with two million barrels of oil aboard, is heading to Asia after sitting in Iranian waters for months, the first vessel storing crude offshore to sail after the recent nuclear accords.

Iran and six major world powers reached a landmark nuclear deal on, clearing the way for an easing of international sanctions on Tehran and higher oil exports, Reuters reports.

"This is the first tanker to come off floating storage," the source said. "One of the scenarios is it could do an STS operation, although nothing is known at the moment," the source said, referring to ship-to-ship transfers of oil between two vessels, usually at sea.

ThomsonReuters Eikon shipping data showed the vessel sailing through the Gulf of Oman with a Singapore destination. Earlier this week the Starla was idling offshore the United Arab Emirates in an area known as Khor Fakkan, often used for STS.