Saibaba Shiprecycling in cross hairs of scrapping sanctioned oil tanker Sunflower, formerly Nolan

Nolan was sold after changing its name to Sunflower by Nebula Nautics Corp, a shell company formed in Seychelles, allegedly with links to Viktor Artemov, a person designated by OFAC on November 3, 2022, as part of an international oil smuggling network that facilitated oil trades and generated revenue for Hizballah and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF).

According to the US Department of the Treasury, Artemov oversees a vast, complex, and interwoven global network of front companies that are used to facilitate oil shipments on behalf of the oil smuggling network.

Artemov, according to the Treasury Department, served as director of Pontus Navigation Corp and Triton Navigation Corp - both sanctioned by the US- which owned the Nolan and Adisa (now known as Skipper and also sanctioned by OFAC), respectively. Artemov's company Rising Tide Shipping, per the Treasury Department, served as the commercial manager of the Nolan and Adisa (renamed as Skipper was seized by the US Coast Guard recently off the coast of Venezuela).

Nebula Nautics represented by its director Yuri Arnautov signed a Memorandum of Agreement on November 11, 2025, to sell the oil tanker Sunflower (ex-Nolan) built in 2000 in South Korea to Jaliyan Sustainable Ship Recycling Pvt Ltd.

A day later, Jaliyan Sustainable Ship Recycling sold the tanker to Saibaba Shiprecycling LLP.

"Your dealings with the Nolan, therefore, violate OFAC sanctions and must stop immediately," lawyer Douglass A Mitchell wrote in a December 14 letter to Saibaba Shiprecycling LLP where the tanker was beached on November 24 for scrapping.

In his letter, Mitchell informed Saibaba Shiprecycling that "individuals and entities that engage in business dealings with sanctioned, or blacklisted, people, businesses, or vessels are subject to being sanctioned themselves. Purchasing, scrapping, or engaging in any business of any kind concerning the Nolan without a specific license from OFAC would expose your scrap yard to sanctions".

"We demand that you immediately stop any and all scrap work on the vessel. And further, we demand that you take all necessary steps to preserve the vessel," Mitchell wrote in the letter which was also addressed to the Gujarat Maritime Board and marked to the Directorate General of shipping and the Indian Coast Guard.

Rameshbhai Mendapara, promoter of Saibaba Shiprecycling LLP said he "doesn't have much knowledge of the deal and would revert after collecting information".

The development highlights the challenges faced by Alang ship recyclers in scrapping sanctioned vessels, adding to the current subdued global recycling market, where volumes have been among the lowest in years. This has started hurting more than a hundred yards in Alang that were upgraded to comply with the International Maritime Organisation's Hong Kong Convention on green ship recycling.