Dubai: Oil tankers from Greece and India have turned back in the Persian Gulf after attempting to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, reflecting chaos among shipowners and traders unsure if Iran will uphold its promise to keep the critical waterway open, Bloomberg reported.
The reversals by five such vessels early on Saturday indicate initial traffic patterns at the energy lifeline, coming after Iran’s foreign minister declared on Friday that it was “completely open.” Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency later reported that “the passage will still be closed if a US naval blockade was still in effect.”
Tankers Reverse Amid Flotilla Standoff
The Greek and Indian ships had steamed northeast from off Dubai, fully loaded with crude, before wheeling around on Saturday morning. Some now linger close to their turnaround points by Iran’s Qeshm Island, while a sixth has been silent on position data for hours.
These six were part of a convoy nearing Hormuz late on Friday post-announcements, drawn from tankers bottled up in the Gulf by the Middle East war. Their combined 8.3 million barrels of non-Iranian crude could have driven the Gulf’s peak single-day outflows since hostilities erupted.
Unclear If Abort Or Controls At Play
Bloomberg News couldn’t immediately confirm whether the U-turns signalled aborted runs or traffic management as ships converged on the strait. Shortly after, three LPG carriers and an oil products tanker mirrored the eastward push, now bound for the Gulf of Oman.
Owners of Gulf-based ships had radio alerts late on Friday mandating Iranian navy clearance, said people familiar with the situation. Bloomberg emails to the six crude tankers’ owners and managers went unanswered outside business hours.
Below are the six tankers’ movements. Regional electronic interference often garbles location signals, and ships may deliberately go off-grid to avoid spotting, thereby, hindering a clear read on strait passage.
Key Tanker Details Amid Hormuz U-Turns
The Nissos Keros, a super tanker loaded with roughly 1.8 million barrels of United Arab Emirates crude, abandoned its strait approach from Dubai waters and is now holding position near Qeshm Island; the Marshall Islands-flagged vessel is owned and operated by Greece’s Kyklades Maritime Corp.
Not far behind, the Greek-flagged Suezmax Minerva Evropi — carrying over 1 million barrels of Iraqi Basrah crude destined for Turkey — mirrored the reversal; it is managed by Athens-based Minerva Marine Inc.
India-flagged VLCC Sanmar Herald swung back from just south of Iran’s Larak Island toward the Persian Gulf.
The Aframax Desh Garima, which had been shadowing Sanmar Herald, fell silent on tracking, with no geolocation pings since about 4:20 a.m. local time in the Hormuz area.
India-flagged VLCC Desh Vaibhav, lagging by around an hour, has come to a stop near the Nissos Keros.
Another India-linked VLCC, Desh Vibhor, U-turned close to Desh Vaibhav and Nissos Keros, the Bloomberg report said.
