Key facts
- Three supertankers carrying approximately 6 million barrels of crude oil have passed through the Strait of Hormuz.
- The vessels departed the Persian Gulf in the past 24 hours.
- The Strait of Hormuz is a critical chokepoint for about 20% of global oil and LNG shipments.
- The increased traffic follows a fragile ceasefire between the United States and Iran.
- This represents the largest daily volume of oil exits from the waterway since the conflict began.
Three supertankers, each capable of carrying 2 million barrels of crude oil, have successfully transited the Strait of Hormuz in the past 24 hours, according to ship-tracking data. The vessels, identified as the Liberia-flagged Serifos, and the China-flagged Cospearl Lake and He Rong Hai, began sending automated position signals as they exited the Persian Gulf into the Gulf of Oman.
The Serifos, chartered by Thai state-owned energy firm PTT, loaded crude from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates and is expected to arrive in Malaysia on April 21. The Cospearl Lake, carrying Iraqi oil, is chartered by Unipec, the trading arm of Chinese energy giant Sinopec, and is bound for eastern China, with an expected arrival on May 1. The destination for the He Rong Hai, also chartered by Unipec, was not immediately clear.
This increased shipping activity through the vital waterway, which handles approximately 20% of global oil and liquefied natural gas shipments, follows a fragile ceasefire between the United States and Iran. It marks the most significant day of oil departures from the Persian Gulf since the conflict began six weeks prior, which had severely disrupted global energy supplies and sent oil prices soaring.