A total of 11 tankers hauling a combined 20 MMbbl were detected leaving the Iranian port of Chabahar on the Gulf of Oman this week, shipping data compiled by Bloomberg show. The U.S. military had prevented the vessels from sailing out into the Indian Ocean, part of an effort to squeeze Tehran’s access to petrodollars. Most Iranian oil goes to China.
The increased flows come as Iran continues in its efforts to control which ships can pass through Hormuz and how. The country’s Persian Gulf State Authority, an entity set up to oversee transits, said in a document on its website that shippers must follow its designated route and set out how vessels could face tolls for passage.
While Wednesday’s memorandum of understanding between Washington and Tehran was supposed to unlock oil and gas flows from across the region, the most transparent sign of increased exports has been from Chabahar, which sits just outside the Persian Gulf near Iran’s border with Pakistan.
The U.S. and Iran have postponed the start of their negotiations over a permanent peace deal, which were meant to be held in Switzerland on Friday. It’s unclear whether the delay, which followed clashes overnight between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in southern Lebanon, will impact transit through Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman.
No non-Iranian tankers were seen moving outbound from the Persian Gulf on Friday morning, compared with vessels carrying nearly 10 MMbbl that either appeared outside or sailing through the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday. The fully laden supertanker Tenzan, which reappeared in the Gulf of Oman, appeared to cross Hormuz overnight.
It’s possible that other cargo flows will come to light in the coming days because ships have increasingly navigated Hormuz with their transponders switched off, hugging a route along Oman’s coast.
