By Emily Chow and Florence Tan
SINGAPORE, June 23 (Reuters) – Two stranded supertankers passed through the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, while seven empty Qatar-linked liquefied natural gas tankers have entered in recent weeks in an early sign Gulf gas shipping may be resuming, ship-tracking data show.
Iranian-linked tankers also continued to transit the vital waterway, data showed, with traffic picking up on Monday as U.S.-Iran talks progressed. Flows had weakened ahead of the talks amid threats by U.S. President Donald Trump to restart the war and Tehran’s announcement it had again shut the strait.
The first round of talks, which began on Sunday, concluded a day later with both sides agreeing on a roadmap toward a permanent deal within 60 days. The U.S. also announced a waiver until August 21 on sanctions, easing concerns over global oil and LNG supplies and pushing prices lower. [O/R]
More crude oil cargoes stranded in the Gulf since the start of the war are expected to make their way out now, analysts say, while a growing number of sanctioned tankers have been plying the strait to load and export Iranian oil after the U.S. waived sanctions.
The Very Large Crude Carrier Dubai Energy, chartered by Taiwanese state energy firm CPC and carrying 2 million barrels of Abu Dhabi and Saudi crude, exited the strait overnight and is now sailing towards Kaohsiung, Taiwan, LSEG and Kpler data showed. CPC did not respond to a request for comment.
Another VLCC, Universal Glory, chartered by South Korean refiner GS Caltex, exited the strait on Tuesday with 2 million barrels of Saudi crude onboard, the data showed.
GS Caltex declined to comment.
Two sanctioned Suezmax tankers — Sobar and Sarak — are heading into the strait on Tuesday, the data showed. Each of them can carry 1 million barrels of oil.
QATAR-LINKED LNG TANKERS
Seven ballast QatarEnergy-controlled tankers moved west into the Gulf to reload between June 11 and June 22, ship-tracking data from Vortexa and Kpler show, the first such voyages since the U.S. and Israel launched airstrikes on Iran on February 28.
The first three tankers to make inbound transits — Al Hamla, Al Areesh and Al Khuwair — had done so with their automatic tracking system off, Vortexa report shows.
According to Kpler data, the three tankers were last seen outside the strait in mid-June and reappeared on ship-tracking data between June 19 and June 23.
The other four — Wadi Al Sail, Mekaines, Al Sadd and Mesaimeer — entered the strait on Monday via the Iranian route.
QatarEnergy did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside their business hours.
This also marks the largest volume of empty LNG ships transiting through the strait since the war began, Commonwealth Bank of Australia analyst Vivek Dhar said.
“Other empty LNG tankers are also on their way to Qatar. The ship-tracking data reinforces expectations that QatarEnergy will meet their LNG ramp-up schedule,” he said.
There was an explosion at a gas processing facility inside the Ras Laffan industrial complex on Monday, but the energy minister said Qatar’s LNG facilities were not impacted.
In terms of QatarEnergy-controlled tankers exiting the strait, Al Ghashamiya was last seen inside on June 9, carrying a cargo from Ras Laffan which was loaded on March 1, Kpler data showed. It then reappeared outside the strait on June 22.
Widespread movement of ballast Qatari and ADNOC vessels toward the Gulf is yet to be seen, reflecting a cautious and phased restart strategy, S&P Global Energy analyst Ayush Agarwal said.
The key risk is whether sustained safe passage, insurer confidence, and implementation of a memorandum of understanding signed between the U.S. and Iran can support a durable ramp-up in Gulf LNG exports, S&P Global Energy said.
(Reporting by Emily Chow and Florence Tan in Singapore; additional reporting by Heejin Kim in Seoul; Editing by Himani Sarkar)
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