Oil tankers exit Strait of Hormuz despite Iran threats

Dozens of tankers passed through the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, via a route along the coast of Oman promoted by a United Nations maritime agency.

Confirmed strait crossings rose to 70 on Thursday, an increase of 105 percent relative to a day prior, according to data and analytics firm Kpler. Commercial vessels accounted for 53 of those transits, with the firm noting low-risk ships “dominated the day’s profile.”

Earlier this week, the U.N. International Maritime Organization (IMO) launched an operation to evacuate more than 11,000 seafarers from the strait, a critical choke point through which roughly 20 percent of the world’s oil flows.

Under the plan, ships can pass through the waterway using two routes — a northern route close to the Iranian coastline and a southern route through the waters of Oman and the United Arab Emirates.

Once either the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Centre or the Maritime Information Cooperation and Awareness Center contacts a ship, the vessel can use either route to leave the strait after conducting their own risk assessment, according to the IMO.

With the evacuation plan, the organization intends to boost traffic through the strait to the prewar levels of roughly 130 per day, according to U.N. News.

Fourteen seafarers have been killed in the strait since the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran began, according to the IMO. Arsenio Dominguez, the secretary-general of the organization, said in a Tuesday release that his organization will carry out the evacuation plan “in close cooperation” with Iran, Oman, other coastal states, the U.S. and the maritime industry.

In guidance to vessels, the Persian Gulf Strait Authority, the Iranian agency in charge of managing the strait, said vessels must have a valid permit to transit the strait.

Also Thursday, the Islamic Republic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy said Iranian-designated channels are the only “safe routes” through the waterway, according to the IRNA News Agency.

Kpler noted Thursday that the memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and Iran, coupled with the U.S. lifting its naval blockade of Iranian ports, contributed to the “short-term confidence boost” seen in the transit increase from Wednesday to Thursday.

But the firm added the IRGC Navy warning ships against using the Omani route “could create a new source of contention” in the region.

While traffic in the strait has not returned to pre-war levels, the per-barrel price of Brent Crude — the international benchmark — is below $74 as of Thursday morning, roughly in line with its pre-war trading value.

The price of West Texas Intermediate Crude, meanwhile, is less than $71 per barrel as of Thursday morning.

Declining oil prices have had a ripple effect at the pump in the U.S., with the national average price of a gallon of regular gas falling below $3.92 on Thursday, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA). A month ago, gas prices were above $4.50, AAA reported.

Petroleum expert Patrick De Haan said Wednesday U.S. gas prices are falling 5 percent faster than they did in 2022, when fuel costs surged after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Oil tankers exit Strait of Hormuz despite Iran threats

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