Three supertankers, fully loaded with oil, have successfully navigated through the Strait of Hormuz. This movement comes during a delicate truce between the United States and Iran, according to recent shipping data.
Iran’s previous blockade of the strait, a critical chokepoint for approximately 20 percent of global oil and liquefied natural gas shipments, had severely disrupted worldwide energy supplies and caused oil prices to surge. These disruptions began with the onset of the US and Israel’s conflict with Iran at the end of February.
Data from the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) indicates that the Liberia-flagged Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) Serifos, along with the China-flagged VLCCs Cospearl Lake and He Rong Hai, departed the “Hormuz Passage trial anchorage” on Saturday. This anchorage allows vessels to bypass Iran’s Larak Island. Each of these massive vessels is capable of transporting 2 million barrels of oil.
Serifos, chartered by the Thai state-owned energy firm PTT according to LSEG and analytics firm Kpler, was one of seven vessels for which Malaysia had sought clearance from Iran to transit the strait, as reported by two individuals familiar with the matter to Reuters. This tanker, carrying crude loaded from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in early March, is projected to reach Malaysia’s Malacca Port by April 21, based on LSEG and Kpler data.
Attempts to reach Malaysia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, PTT, and Malaysian state energy firm Petronas for comment on Sunday, outside of office hours, were unsuccessful. Another tanker, Ocean Thunder, carrying Iraqi crude and chartered by a Petronas unit, transited the waterway last week.
Cospearl Lake, laden with Iraqi oil, is expected to arrive at eastern China’s Zhoushan port on May 1, LSEG data shows. The final destination for the Saudi crude aboard He Rong Hai was not immediately clear. Both VLCCs, Cospearl Lake and He Rong Hai, are chartered by Unipec, the trading arm of Chinese energy giant Sinopec, according to the data. Sinopec did not respond to a request for comment outside office hours.
Hundreds of tankers remain in the Gulf, awaiting their turn to exit during the ongoing two-week ceasefire period. On Sunday, three other empty tankers – Mombasa B, Agios Fanourios I, and Shalamar – were observed sailing into the strait, intending to enter the Gulf and load oil, LSEG data revealed. The Malta-flagged VLCC Agios Fanourios I signaled its destination as Iraq, where it plans to load Basrah crude for Vietnam. Eastern Mediterranean Maritime, which manages Agios Fanourios I, and Cmb.Tech NV, manager for Liberia-flagged VLCC Mombasa B, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Pakistan National Shipping, managing the tanker Shalamar, also did not immediately respond.
#OilTankers #StraitOfHormuz #USIranCeasefire #GlobalEnergy #ShippingNews #CrudeOil #EnergySecurity #Geopolitics #MaritimeTraffic #OilPrices
Leave a Reply