Iran-linked carriers of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) have made U-turns and traveled in zig-zagging patterns in recent hours as they face the U.S. naval blockade in the Gulf of Oman, after having cleared the Strait of Hormuz outbound into the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea.
The Glendale and Danuta I LPG carriers, sanctioned by the United States, have made abrupt changes in course in the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman, or have made U-turns before potentially running into the U.S. blockade, vessel-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg showed on Friday.
The U.S. earlier this week reinstated its naval blockade to stop Iran’s oil exports, after the fragile ceasefire collapsed at the end of last week with Iranian strikes on commercial vessels, including oil and LNG tankers, and the U.S. responding with six consecutive nights of strikes on Iran.
On Thursday, U.S. forces struck and disabled an Iran-linked sanctioned oil tanker near Iran’s key export terminal, Kharg Island, deep in the Persian Gulf, as the U.S. appears to be broadening the scope of the renewed blockade on Iran.
As of late on Thursday, U.S. forces had redirected 3 commercial vessels trying to run the blockade, disabled one ship that didn’t comply, and boarded another to ensure full compliance with the ongoing U.S. naval blockade against Iran, the U.S. Central Command said.
“The Strait of Hormuz and the surrounding waters remain free and open, except for vessels attempting to violate America’s steel wall blockade,” CENTCOM added.
Despite U.S. assurances, tanker traffic at the Strait of Hormuz has collapsed over the past week to the numbers and volumes from before the U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding.
Traffic has collapsed to a two-month low as tanker owners and operators are unwilling to brave the chokepoint in either direction, fearing Iranian attacks on vessels. The regional threat alert for shipping was again raised to “severe,” and energy flows out of the Middle East have stalled again.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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