Four oil and gas tankers turn back from Hormuz after vessel attacks

At least four oil and gas tankers have turned back from the Strait of Hormuz after fresh attacks on vessels near the key waterway raised concerns over maritime security, according to ship-tracking data.

The diversions followed damage to a Qatari liquefied natural gas tanker and a Saudi-flagged crude oil tanker near the strait on Tuesday. The incidents came after reports that Iran had fired missiles at ships in the waterway, prompting maritime authorities to raise the threat level for transiting vessels to “severe”.

The Strait of Hormuz is one of the world’s most important energy routes, carrying crude oil, refined products and LNG from Gulf producers to global markets.

Data from analytics firms Kpler and LSEG showed that three LNG tankers — Al Ghariya, Duhail and Al Ruwais — had been moving westward towards the Strait of Hormuz before changing course late on Tuesday. The three empty tankers, controlled by QatarEnergy, were heading to Qatar’s Ras Laffan export facility to load cargoes.

An Indian-flagged tanker carrying 2 million barrels of Kuwaiti crude also made a U-turn off the tip of Oman at the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, according to LSEG and Kpler data. The crude had been loaded late last week.

Despite the heightened risk, some vessels continued to move through the waterway. At least two crude oil tankers exited the strait on Tuesday, shipping data showed.

The VLCC Tenjun, managed by Nippon Yusen KK, left the Strait of Hormuz late on Tuesday while carrying 2 million barrels of Qatari crude loaded in late February. Nippon Yusen declined to comment.

The VLCC Pertamina Pride, managed by Indonesia’s state energy firm Pertamina, also exited the strait on Tuesday with its transponder switched off. The vessel was carrying 2 million barrels of Saudi crude loaded in early March. Pertamina did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Shipping flows from Gulf LNG export hubs have continued since the conflict began in late February, but at reduced levels. At least 16 LNG cargoes from Qatar’s Ras Laffan terminal and 10 from ADNOC’s Das Island terminal in the United Arab Emirates have exited the strait during the period. That remains well below the roughly 7 million metric tons shipped on average each month from the two export hubs.

A backlog of empty vessels waiting to load at Ras Laffan has also developed, reaching more than 10 ships in early July, according to Vortexa analysts.

Vortexa said more than 50 QatarEnergy- and ADNOC-controlled empty vessels were stationed around the Middle East Gulf, India and the Malacca Strait. Some of these vessels had switched off their Automatic Identification System signals for more than 10 days.