Shipping data from the London Stock Exchange Group and Kpler showed that two very large crude carriers (VLCCs) and one liquefied natural gas tanker passed through the Strait of Hormuz earlier this week with their transponders switched off, and are currently heading toward India and China.
The vessels join a number of tankers that have departed the Gulf this month, although oil and LNG shipping activity overall remains limited.
The VLCC Eagle Veracruz, carrying two million barrels of crude oil loaded from Saudi Arabia in late February, is heading to the port of Quanzhou in China’s southeastern Fujian province. The tanker is expected to arrive at the port, home to a refinery operated by Sinochem, on June 16.
Neither AET Tankers, the owner and operator of Eagle Veracruz, nor Sinochem responded to requests for comment.
Another VLCC, Nissos Keros, carrying around 1.8 million barrels of the UAE’s Das Blend crude, is expected to arrive at the Indian port of Visakhapatnam on June 3, where a refinery operated by Hindustan Petroleum is located.
Neither Vitol, which chartered the tanker, nor Keladis Maritime, which manages it, responded to requests for comment outside business hours.
Kpler data showed that both VLCCs exited the Strait on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the Chinese-flagged tanker Hua Lin Wan, operated by COSCO Shipping, passed through the Strait on Wednesday. It is expected to arrive at the port of Huizhou in southern Guangdong province on June 12, carrying naphtha cargoes loaded from Kuwait since March.
Separately, the LNG tanker Umm Al Ashtan was last seen empty off the coast of the UAE on May 1, according to Kpler and LSEG data.
It reappeared in vessel-tracking data on May 27 carrying a cargo from Das Island and is currently sailing eastward off the coast of Oman toward India.
ADNOC, listed as the operator of Umm Al Ashtan, did not respond to a request for comment outside business hours.
Reuters
