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The United States, under the aid of air cover and darkness, helped transits about 15 oil tankers daily through a narrow Omani corridor to move past the Strait of Hormuz Shutdown,
Vessels are seen anchored in the Strait of Hormuz, off the port city of Khasab on Oman’s northern Musandam Peninsula. (AFP file photo)
With the Strait of Hormuz all but closed to commercial shipping since the outbreak of the US-Iran conflict in February, roughly 15 oil tankers a day are passing through the waterway’s narrow Omani coastal corridor under American air cover, with their GPS transponders switched off to avoid detection by Iranian forces.
The practice, confirmed to the Financial Times by four people with knowledge of the transits, has quietly moved millions of barrels of oil to market and helped keep crude prices from breaching $100 a barrel.
Crews on vessels making the crossing have been instructed to stay off the radio and switch off their lights, with some transits conducted in the middle of the night. US President Donald Trump, speaking to reporters, confirmed the scale of the operation.
“We’ve been taking out millions of barrels of oil, nobody knows it. We took out the other night 22 ships late at night with no lights,” he said, adding that the practice had helped keep oil prices relatively contained.
The strait normally facilitates the transit of around 20 million barrels of oil per day, roughly 20 per cent of global seaborne oil trade. Commercial transit through the strait has fallen to approximately 2 per cent of pre-crisis volume, with war-risk insurance for tankers now priced at eight times the pre-crisis rate and six P&I clubs having withdrawn cover.
The closure has cut around 12 million barrels a day from the market, the equivalent of roughly six daily supertankers.
The Omani route hugs a rocky coastline and narrows to as little as 800 metres at certain points, presenting serious navigational challenges for large vessels.
John Stawpert, marine director at the International Chamber of Shipping, said: “It is a very narrow waterway and there is not much room for manoeuvre, so we are worried about the navigational implications of ships using it.”
The increase in dark transits has coincided with a period in which the US has been actively helping ships navigate through the waterway. The US first established this air cover system approximately two weeks ago, according to three people with knowledge of the operation.
US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said on Tuesday that transits through the waterway had been “meaningfully” rising, a development he credited with pushing oil prices down roughly 3 per cent.
Iraq, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates have been among the Gulf producers using vessels they control to ferry barrels outside of Hormuz, avoiding the steep fees commanded by the small number of ships willing to enter the strait. Energy consultancy Energy Aspects estimated Iraq, Kuwait and the UAE were collectively shipping around 3 million barrels of crude a day through the strait.
It noted that stocks at Kuwait’s Mina al-Ahmadi terminal fell by nearly 8 million barrels at the end of May, suggesting ships were being loaded at an accelerating rate. Abu Dhabi National Oil Company sold at least 14 million barrels of crude in a tender that concluded last week, with cargoes due to begin loading this month.
Amrita Sen, founder of Energy Aspects, said the dark transits meant the world’s refineries could lift production and avoid what she described as “summer tightness, in theory.”
Dan Smoot, chief executive of Vantor, which tracks ships by satellite imaging, told the Wall Street Journal’s CEO Council summit in London that there was a “tremendous amount” of shipping activity through the strait that was “outside the news right now.”
Shipping executives have been careful to keep expectations in check. Traffic through the strait remains far below the 135 ships a day recorded before the conflict began, and AIS transponder disruptions continue to complicate accurate tracking, with vessel counts expected to change as ships reappear beyond high-risk areas.
About the Author
Anoshito Banerjee is a digital journalist at CNN-News18, specialising in Indian foreign policy, global diplomacy, South and West Asian geopolitics, and strategic affairs. His reporting spans hard news…Read More
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