A Greek court ruled on Wednesday that a load of crude oil seized and removed from an Iranian-flagged vessel last month must be returned to its owners.

The decision by the Chalkis appeals court overrules a previous judgement by lower Greek magistrates that had led to 68,000 tonnes of crude oil being taken from the 115,400-dwt aframax Lana (built 2003) — a Russian-linked, Iran-flag vessel detained