More Tankers Make It Through the Strait of Hormuz
Two liquefied natural gas carriers and a supertanker have traversed the Strait of Hormuz over the past couple of days, with the LNG vessels heading for Pakistan and China, and the tanker, loaded with Iraqi crude, is en route to China.
According to a Reuters report, the vessels used the route that Iran has told all ships to use from now on. The LNG carriers are loaded with Qatari gas, the report said, citing data from LSEG and Kpler. At least one of the vessels was loaded in late March. The supertanker carrying Iraqi Basrah crude loaded its cargo in late February and had been stuck in Hormuz since then.
Bloomberg, meanwhile, reported that ADNOC has been using its own fleet of tankers to ship oil and gas through the Strait of Hormuz in so-called dark mode, where vessels switch off their geolocation indicators to remain unnoticed.
Reports about tankers passing through the Strait of Hormuz have multiplied over the past couple of weeks. Two supertankers exited Hormuz last week and headed for their final destination in China, earlier reports said, and another two LNG carriers also made it through the strait and are en route to India, media reported earlier in May.
Some vessels have been passing through the chokepoint in dark mode, switching off their transponders to avoid detection from the Iranian military. Since early March, hundreds of vessels, including tankers carrying energy commodities, have been stranded in the Persian Gulf west of the Strait of Hormuz amid the de facto closure of the chokepoint, but the past couple of weeks have seen some moving out.
According to data from Bloomberg cited by Zerohedge last week, at least 19 tankers carrying crude oil and liquefied petroleum gas from Gulf states other than Iran had traversed the Strait of Hormuz since March 1. Another 100 tankers, however, remain paralyzed in the strait, the data also showed.
By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com
Deal to Reopen Hormuz Gets Closer, But With Little Agreement in Public
The U.S. and Iran have announced an outline of an agreement to extend their ceasefire and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. The deal has not yet been signed, and as in previous talks, officials on both sides have leaked out conflicting accounts of the details.
The contents of the deal have not been officially released, and it appears to be structured as a ceasefire extension to allow further time for negotiation, with some of the most difficult decisions deferred for further talks. While definitive confirmation is still pending, a general outline has emerged from participants' background statements. A U.S. official told the Wall Street Journal on Sunday the U.S. has agreed to provide Iran's economy with some "breathing room," but has not yet promised to release frozen Iranian funds or lift sanctions.
In exchange, the official said, Iran has accepted the idea of exporting its stockpile of enriched uranium to another country, in principle and subject to further negotiation on the details. The deal would also include a time-limited moratorium on further Iranian nuclear enrichment, in exchange for sanctions relief.
Iran denies that any commitments were made about any matter related to its nuclear program, except for its ongoing pledge to never build nuclear weapons. Iran has always maintained a public commitment not to build a nuclear bomb (though it has quietly pursued the knowledge and physical means to do so).
Al Jazeera senior correspondent Ali Hashem adds further details reflecting purported benefits to the Iranian side. From the perspective of his sources, the proposed deal looks much different: it reportedly includes a complete end to hostilities, including an end to the ongoing Israeli operation in Lebanon; the release of billions of dollars in blocked Iranian funds; the lifting of the U.S. naval blockade in the Strait of Hormuz, allowing Iran to resume oil exports; and the withdrawal of U.S. forces from the area.
In accounts published by Iranian state media, the agreement would also leave the strait under Iranian control, in cooperation with authorities in Oman - giving Iran more strategic influence over the waterway than it had at the start of the war.
U.S. officials have not confirmed any of these claims.
"The ceasefire and broader de-escalation measures appear intended for near-term implementation, while the main sources of contention were pushed into a separate 30-60 day negotiation track," commented Nicole Grajewski, Assistant Professor at CERI Sciences Po. "That structure is important because it pushes some of the hardest questions (sanctions sequencing, mechanics of Hormuz access, conditions on asset releases) into less visible side documents while still allowing both sides to announce a political breakthrough."
After hopeful comments from the administration on Saturday, President Donald Trump said Sunday that his team would be going slowly.
"I have informed my representatives not to rush into a deal in that time is on our side. The blockade will remain in full force and effect until an agreement is reached, certified, and signed. Both sides must take their time and get it right. There can be no mistakes!" Trump wrote.
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