Three ships were reportedly attacked near the mouth of the Persian Gulf, amid signs that tanker traffic through the vital oil and gas chokepoint of the Strait of Hormuz is being halted due to conflict in the region.
Iran said it had no intention of closing the waterway, just a day after ships in the area heard radio broadcasts that transit through the Strait of Hormuz was banned.
Ships began avoiding Hormuz as the conflict erupted on Saturday, with some taking U-turns and some stopping before entry. Now, digital signals indicate that oil-tanker traffic through the waterway may have come to a near halt. For traders, what happens there is important because it handles about a fifth of the world’s marine oil and a similar proportion of liquefied natural gas.
While Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said his country has no intention of closing the Strait of Hormuz, there are clear signs that tanker companies are staying away.
Just one oil ship, owned by Iran’s state tanker company NITC, was transiting the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday afternoon, according to digital signals compiled by Bloomberg. Ships sometimes turn off their digital transponders while navigating conflict zones, and at least one oil tanker did just that before turning its transponder back on after clearing the strait.
Attacks on ships will increase the caution of owners. The UK Maritime Trade Operations Center said two of the three reported incidents occurred in the Strait of Hormuz off the Omani exclave of Musandam, while the third occurred further south, off Muscat.
Oman’s maritime security agency has identified one of the vessels as the Skylight Tanker – a small vessel that appears to be sanctioned by the US. The Norwegian Rescue Service identified the other as MKD Vyom. UKMTO, the liaison between military and commercial vessels, did not identify the third.
MKD Vyom, with a transport capacity of 74,000 deadweight tonnes, was transporting oil products for Aramco, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. The company declined to comment. Skylight is smaller with a capacity of just over 11,000 tonnes. The largest crude oil tankers exceed 300,000 tonnes.
UKMTO said a third, unidentified vessel was able to extinguish the fire and continued its journey. It described the attack as an isolated incident, although it occurred close to where the Starlight attack occurred.
The incidents underscore growing concerns about maritime security as the conflict involving the US, Israel and Iran spreads across the region and tensions rise around the Strait of Hormuz, which handles a fifth of the world’s seaborne oil and the same share of liquefied natural gas.
On Saturday several ships reportedly heard radio broadcasts coming from the Iranian Navy announcing that transit through the waterway had been banned. Tehran has threatened American ships.
UKMTO said in a separate update on Sunday that no official closure of Hormuz has been reported through official legal channels and that radio communications do not constitute a legally recognized closure.