About 90 ships cross the Strait of Hormuz as Iran exports millions of barrels of oil despite the war
HONG KONG (AP) — Nearly 90 ships, including oil tankers, have passed through the Strait of Hormuz since the beginning of the war. with Iran It is still exporting millions of barrels of oil at a time when the waterway is effectively closed, according to shipping and trade data platforms.
Maritime data company Lloyd’s List Intelligence said most of the ships passing through the strait were “dark” passages that evaded Western government sanctions and oversight and were likely linked to Iran. Recently, ships with connections to India and Pakistan have also successfully crossed the strait as governments accelerated negotiations.
After crude oil prices rose above $100 per barrel, US President Donald Trump said: allies and trading partners under pressure sending warships to reopen the strait, hoping to lower oil prices.
Most of the shipping traffic Strait of HormuzA waterway for global oil and gas transportation that supplies roughly a fifth of the world’s crude oil has been halted since early March following the outbreak of war. Approximately 20 ships were attacked in the region.
But Iran has still managed to export over 16 million barrels of oil since the beginning of March, according to an estimate by trade data and analysis platform Kpler. Due to Western sanctions and related risks, China became the largest buyer of Iranian oil.
Kpler trade risk analyst Ana Subasic said there was “ongoing resilience” in Iran’s oil export volumes.
Kun Cao, client director at consulting firm Reddal, said Iran had managed to profit from oil sales and at the same time “protect its own export artery” by using control over the chokepoint.
Iran’s oil export data estimates are largely consistent with maritime traffic data.
At least 89 ships passed through the Strait of Hormuz between 1 and 15 March; That number, including 16 oil tankers, dropped from about 100 per day before the war to 135, according to Lloyd’s List Intelligence. While more than a fifth of the 89 ships are believed to be bound to Iran, it was stated that the rest included ships bound to China and Greece.
Other ships are also passing.
Lloyd’s List Intelligence said the Pakistani-flagged crude oil tanker Karachi, under the control of Pakistan National Shipping Corp., passed through the strait on Sunday.
Pakistan Port Trust spokesman Shariq Amin declined to confirm or deny which route MT Karachi used but said the ship would reach Pakistan safely soon.
Both are state-owned Shipping Corp., according to Lloyd’s List Intelligence. The Indian-flagged liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) carriers Shivalik and Nanda Devi, owned by India, also passed through the strait around March 13 or 14. LPG is used as the primary cooking fuel by millions of Indian households.
Indian foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar told the Financial Times that the two ships were able to pass after talks with Iran. Iraq was also in talks with Iran to allow Iraqi oil tankers to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, the state news agency reported.
Richard Meade, editor-in-chief of Lloyd’s List, said the ships may have been transiting “with at least some level of diplomatic intervention.” So Iran may have “effectively created a safe corridor” with some ships passing near the Iranian coast.
It has been determined that some ships near or in the strait declare themselves in this way. China linked with all Chinese crew members to reduce the risk of being attacked, according to a previous analysis on ship tracking platform MarineTraffic. Analysts believe they are taking advantage of China’s close ties with Iran.
There are oil prices jumped It has risen more than 40% to over $100 per barrel since the Iran war began, and Iran has threatened not to let it happen “Even a liter of oil” The USA, Israel and their allies are planned to pass.
The USA announced that it allowed Iranian oil tankers to pass through the strait in order to stabilize oil prices. “Iranian ships are already on their way, and we allowed that to happen to supply the rest of the world,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in an interview with CNBC on Monday.
The United States bombed military facilities on Kharg Island off the coast of Iran, which is key to Iran’s oil network and exports, but President Donald Trump said he did so. He left the oil infrastructure alone now.
Recent passages through the Strait of Hormuz show that the strait is simply “not closed,” Cao said. “It is better understood that it is closed to some traffic but still functions for Iranian exports and a narrow range of non-Iranian movements,” he said.
But if Iran’s plan is to “create distress through higher energy prices,” the number of tankers it allows to pass through the Strait of Hormuz may be very limited, Warren Patterson and Ewa Manthey, strategists at Dutch bank ING, wrote in a research note.
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Saaliq reported from New Delhi. AP Writer Munir Ahmed contributed from Islamabad, Pakistan.
