Another Tanker Struck as Hormuz Shipping Crisis Deepens

Yet another tanker has been struck by a projectile in the Strait of Hormuz, the UK Maritime Trade Operations said today, as quoted by DPA.

The report follows earlier attacks that continue despite efforts on the part of Pakistan and other interested parties in the region to bring Iran and the United States to the negotiating table and end the shipping disruption in the chokepoint. So far, there is little evidence these efforts are producing any results, yet oil traders appear to be unshakeably optimistic, despite the reports about tanker strikes in the waterway.

According to UKMTO, the attack took place on Tuesday in the waterway between Iran and Oman, and it followed an earlier attack that took place on Monday off the coast of Oman. Windward reported it was an Aframax sailing under a Liberian flag, which was loaded with 704,000 barrels of jet fuel. The vessel made it to Fujairah.

Vessel traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, meanwhile, remains well below recent averages as Iran and Oman discuss a temporary shipping corridor in the key chokepoint that could lead to a kind of ‘interim’ reopening.

Only five commodity vessels moved in either direction in the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, roughly the same number as on Monday, but well below the 10-day average of 15 ships, according to ship-tracking data by Kpler as of early Wednesday. As for pre-war levels, tanker traffic remains a small fraction of those.

Windward reported that as of Wednesday, there were 11 inbound crossings in the Strait of Hormuz and six outbound ones. Of this total, six vessels were tankers: three outgoing and three incoming. All of the tankers had their transponders switched on, the data showed. The majority of oil exports, about 65%, from the Strait of Hormuz have China as their destination, according to Windward’s data.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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