Oil Tanker U-Turns Into Gulf of Oman After Exiting Hormuz
(Bloomberg) — An oil supertanker carrying Iraqi crude from the Persian Gulf on Sunday appears to have stopped shying away from the U.S. naval blockade line and is now heading back to the Gulf of Oman.
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The massive crude oil carrier Agios Fanourios I appears to be retracing its voyage at a relatively slow speed of about 5 knots after previously crossing the Strait of Hormuz and heading into the Gulf of Oman over the weekend, according to ship tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. The ship is still signaling its intention to head for the Nghi Son refinery in Vietnam. Last month, it loaded a cargo of crude oil from the Basra Oil Terminal.
Before the U-turn, the ship was traveling at about 13 knots and showing Nghi Son as its intended destination, according to tracking data it released while clearing the coast of Oman.
The tanker stopped its voyage for unknown reasons late Monday near a spot where the United States maintains a naval blockade that applies to Iranian shipments, not barrels from Iraq.
The ship’s manager, Athens-based Eastern Mediterranean Shipping, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Iran’s semi-official Tasnim News Agency had previously reported the ship’s passage through Hormuz and said that the ship followed the route determined by Tehran through the waterway.
–With help from Alex Longley and Weilun Soon.
(The first and second paragraphs are updated and the chart is modified to reflect the ship’s most recent movements.)
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