At least six Iranian tankers laden with oil are loitering in a cluster near the port of Chabahar in Iran, outside the Strait of Hormuz but just inside the U.S. naval blockade line, satellite images and maritime intelligence analyses have shown.
The cluster of about half a dozen Iranian vessels signals that Iran continues to load oil on Iranian tankers that are trying to leave the Middle East region. On the other hand, the piling up of ships outside the Strait of Hormuz but inside the U.S. blockade line suggests that the American interception of vessels is working to at least delay Iranian oil exports.
On Friday, the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said that “the blockade against ships entering or exiting Iranian ports continues. To date, U.S. forces have redirected 34 vessels.”
According to maritime intelligence firm Windward, “The tanker cluster east of Hormuz near Chabahar remains stable, reinforcing the persistence of eastern positioning under enforcement pressure.”
Windward’s proprietary imaging and analysis confirm the continued presence of seven tankers in the anchorage area, consisting of six very large crude carriers (VLCCs) and one Suezmax, all operating without AIS transmission, the firm said on Monday.
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“The vessels remain in fixed positions, with no indication of loading or ship-to-ship transfer activity, supporting the assessment of sustained loitering rather than active operations,” Windward added.
The dark mode of tanker positioning and a tanker likely acting as a bunkering unit suggest “deliberate staging behavior, rather than incidental congestion or short-term delay.”
The positioning of the vessels in the eastern part of the Gulf of Oman is likely part of an adaptive response to the U.S. blockade, “enabling vessels to wait, reposition, or prepare for future movement,” Windward reckons.
In one week to April 21 since the U.S. blockade was enforced, 34 energy tankers with Iranian links transited the area, Claire Jungman, Director of Maritime Risk & Intelligence at Vortexa, said last week.
Still, the blockade is unlikely to have any meaningful effect on Iranian crude supply to the market within the next 2-3 months because some 160 million barrels of Iranian crude were on water as of April 21, including 130 million barrels that were already outside the U.S. blockade area, according to Vortexa data.
“This is sufficient to supply about 2.5 months of typical Chinese import needs, and more vessels are likely to trickle through the US net,” Jungman said.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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