Supertankers exit Gulf via Strait of Hormuz as US-Iran talks begin, data shows
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Cargo ships in the Gulf, near the Strait of Hormuz, on March 11.
PHOTO: REUTERS
- Three supertankers exited the Strait of Hormuz on April 11, the first since the US-Iran ceasefire deal.
- Tehran's blockade had disrupted global energy supplies, causing oil prices to soar since late February.
- The VLCCs Serifos, Cospearl Lake, and He Rong Hai, carrying Saudi, UAE, and Iraqi oil, are headed to Malaysia and China.
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SINGAPORE - Three supertankers passed through the Strait of Hormuz on April 11, shipping data showed, marking what appeared to be the first vessels to exit the Gulf since the US-Iran ceasefire deal and as peace talks got under way in Pakistan.
Tehran’s blockade of the strait, a chokepoint for about 20 per cent of global oil and liquefied natural gas shipments, since the start of the Iran war at the end of February has disrupted global energy supplies and sent oil prices soaring.
The Liberia-flagged Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) Serifos and China-flagged VLCCs Cospearl Lake and He Rong Hai, entered and exited the “Hormuz Passage trial anchorage” that bypasses Iran’s Larak Island on April 11, LSEG data showed.
Each vessel is capable of carrying two million barrels of oil.
Serifos, carrying crude loaded from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in early March, is expected to arrive at Malaysia’s Malacca port on April 21, data from LSEG and analytics firm Kpler showed.
Cospearl Lake is laden with Iraqi oil and He Rong Hai is carrying Saudi crude, the same data showed.
Both VLCCs are chartered by Unipec, the trading arm of Chinese energy giant Sinopec, the data showed.
Sinopec did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside office hours. REUTERS
