Strait of Hormuz vessel traffic falls as Gulf tensions persist
Trackable commodity vessel traffic through the Strait of Hormuz declined sharply, while Middle Eastern oil exports continued on tankers with transponders switched off.
Nicosia, Cyprus. A dozen commodity vessels transited the Strait of Hormuz over the weekend, down from 35 during the previous weekend, as the United States and Iran remained at an impasse, shipping data showed on Monday. Visible traffic through the waterway has fallen sharply despite continued oil exports by Middle Eastern producers on tankers operating without transponders.
Weekend vessel movements
Among trackable ships, four vessels exited the strait on Sunday: two tankers carrying refined oil products and two empty carriers for bulk goods and gas, according to provisional data from analytics firm Kpler.
Two small oil tankers entered the Gulf on Sunday. On Saturday, five vessels carrying agricultural products, liquefied petroleum gas and fertiliser left the Gulf, while an empty very large gas carrier entered.
Before the US-Israeli war with Iran began on February 28, the strait typically handled around 125 large commercial vessels daily, including tankers, gas carriers, bulk carriers and container ships. The waterway had carried around one-fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas supplies before the war.
Saudi export shift
Houthi attacks on Saudi Aramco’s East-West pipeline prompted the state energy company to increase exports through the Strait of Hormuz this month and next, after suspending some shipments through Yanbu.
Saudi exports recovered to more than 4 million barrels per day so far in September, according to provisional Kpler data, after falling to 2.4 million barrels per day in August, their lowest level since at least 2013.
A total of 13 tankers, mainly very large crude carriers transporting 34 million barrels of crude, exited the strait in the week of September 13. Saudi Arabia accounted for half of those exports, while Iraq represented 35% of the volume.
Oil flows
JPMorgan analysts said in a September 18 note that Middle East oil flows remained “surprisingly strong” despite disruption to Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline.
The analysts said total oil flows averaged 17.1 million barrels per day over the previous 10 days, 6.1 million barrels per day below the 2025 average. They said the most notable change had come from Saudi Arabia, with satellite data showing Saudi oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz averaging 2.9 million barrels per day over the previous six days, compared with 700,000 barrels per day in August.
This news item was generated automatically by Cyprus Inform from publicly available materials. Report an error →