Tanker traffic through Hormuz picks up after slower flows due to crossing concerns

By Florence Tan, Emily Chow and Jonathan Saul

SINGAPORE, June 22 (Reuters) – Oil and liquefied natural gas tankers passed through the Strait of Hormuz on Monday. It was a sign that traffic was slowly recovering after Iran announced it was closing the waterway again over the weekend.

Iran lifted its effective blockade of Hormuz last week after agreeing to a 60-day ceasefire with the United States while negotiations for a final peace deal continue. However, Tehran’s Revolutionary Guard announced the closure of the strait once again on Saturday in response to Israeli attacks in Lebanon, leading to a decrease in flights.

Four LNG tankers controlled by Qatar passed into the Gulf and through the strait on Monday, while two supertankers capable of carrying up to 4 million barrels of crude oil passed into the Gulf, with one signaling the destination as the Iraqi port of Basra, according to Kpler’s ship tracking data and analysis.

Separate ship tracking data on the MarineTraffic platform showed two small crude tankers carrying just under 2 million barrels of oil in total departed from the Strait of Hormuz for the Gulf of Oman on Monday.

“The trend is positive, although daily crossings remain below the 125 crossings before the conflict in Iran,” shipbroker Clarksons said in a note on Monday. he said.

Shipping sources said there may be more ships plying the strait with their transponders turned off, and disruptions may also be reported via AIS ship tracking data. AIS is the tracking system that traders follow to get information about ship movements.

According to Kpler data, five ships passed by on Sunday, down from 26 ships detected the day before. These included three Very Large Crude Carriers, each carrying 2 million barrels of Saudi crude and fuel oil, one of which was bound for Japan.

“Strait of Hormuz traffic has begun to increase as commercial ships continue to move southward through Omani territorial waters and the Iranian-controlled northern route,” the U.S. Navy-led Joint Maritime Information Center said in an advisory Monday. he said.

According to ship tracking data from Kpler, four LNG tankers (Wadi Al Sail, Mekaines, Al Sadd and Mesaimeer) entered the strait via the Iran route on Monday for the first time since the start of the US-Israeli war with Iran.

QatarEnergy, whose LNG exports have been heavily restricted since the war began on Feb. 28, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

‌LSEG data showed that the Marshall Islands-flagged dry cargo ship Summit Success also entered the Gulf on Monday.

OIL EXPORTS ARE MOVING

US Central Command said 55 commercial ships passed through the strait on Saturday, carrying more than 17 million barrels of oil destined for global markets.

Data showed that among the ships exiting the strait on Saturday were three VLCCs carrying crude oil from the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Iraq, and three tankers carrying various petroleum products.

Data showed that 13 ships, including two VLCCs, entered the strait on Saturday.

More than 25 million barrels of Iranian oil have passed through the virtual blockade line since last Monday, Hamid Bovard, head of the National Iranian Oil Company, told state television on Sunday.

LSEG and ‌Kpler data showed that three sanctioned VLCCs (Elva, Virgo and Vigor) carrying Iranian oil loaded from Kharg Island between late April and early May exited the strait on Monday.

Gulf producers Abu Dhabi National Oil Co and Kuwait Oil Company held tenders to sell crude oil with the option of loading from inside and outside the Strait of Hormuz.

Seoul’s Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries said on Monday that two ships operated by South Korea also passed through the strait last week following the interim peace agreement, but did not name them.

A spokesman for the Japan Shipowners Association said the number of Japanese-related ships remaining in the Gulf had fallen to 37 from 45 at the beginning of the conflict.

Meanwhile, Kpler and LSEG data showed that two ADNOC-controlled LNG tankers recently exited the strait and delivered cargo to India on Monday.

Data showed that Al Hamra tanker was unloading at Ennore LNG terminal, while Mubaraz tanker was preparing to unload its cargo at Kochi terminal on Tuesday. Both tankers were last seen in ballast and east of the strait between late May and early June, before reappearing in ship tracking data over the weekend loaded with cargo off the Indian coast.

“As a matter of policy, we do not comment on the location, movements and routes of our ships or third-party reports,” ADNOC said.

Alhambra and Mubaraz have completed two “dark” voyages from Hormuz since the start of the war.

(Reporting by Florence Tan, Emily Chow and Siyi Liu in Singapore, Nerijus Adomaitis in Oslo and Jonathan Saul in London; Yuka Obayashi in Tokyo; Editing by Stephen Coates, Sonali Paul and Milla Nissi-Prussak)