Indonesia Reschedules Auction of Seized Iranian Tanker and Oil Cargo

Indonesia’s Attorney General’s Office and its Asset Recovery Agency have set a date of January 30 for an auction to sell a seized Iranian-flagged tanker and its cargo of Light Crude Oil. It is the second scheduled auction after a previous one for December 2025, and continues to list the minimum price for the vessel and its cargo at approximately $69.5 million.

According to the online listing for the auction, the vessel still has approximately 167 thousand metric tons (1.25 million barrels) of Light Crude Oil onboard. The ship is being sold on an “as is where is” basis with a guarantee of $6.98 million required to enter the auction and a filing of papers no later than January 27.

The vessel, Arman 114 (300,579 dwt), is being held by the Indonesians in the waters of Batu Ampar, Batu Merah Village, Batu Ampar District, Batam City, Riau Islands Province. While the ship is registered in Iran, its ownership is unclear. The courts in Batam rejected several claims to represent the Panama-registered corporation, which claims to own the vessel. Iran has denied any involvement or ownership of the oil since the ship was seized after a July 2023 incident.

The ship was ordered sold by the courts after the captain, an Egyptian citizen, was convicted in absentia on pollution charges. Indonesian patrol boats had discovered the Arman 114 in the midst of an illegal ship-to-ship transfer of oil in July 2023. The ships hurriedly attempted to cover their tracks after they were discovered and raised anchor in an effort to flee. The Arman 114 was stopped by Malaysian authorities and returned to Indonesia. The other vessel, which was using a zombie identity, fled and was not stopped.

The captain of the Arman 114 was put on trial, but fled the country days before the verdict. He was sentenced in absentia to seven years in jail and a fine of approximately $300,000 (or an additional six months in jail). The court also ordered the seizure of the tanker and its cargo.

It was not the first time the vessel had been in trouble globally. Built in 1997, the vessel was operating as Grace 1 when it was seized by UK commandos in July 2019 off Gibraltar. It was transporting a cargo of Iranian oil that the UK said was bound for Syria in violation of EU and US sanctions. Iran retaliated with the seizure of the Stena Impero tanker.

A Gibraltar court released the vessel in August 2019, saying Iran had committed not to deliver the oil to Syria.  The ship changed its name to Adrian Darya 1 under the Iranian flag and, in 2020, again changed its name to Arman 114. The ship has been under U.S. sanctions since 2019.