SINGAPORE, July 8 — At least four oil and gas tankers have turned back from attempting to transit the Strait of Hormuz, ship-tracking data showed, as renewed attacks on vessels in the critical waterway heightened safety and security concerns.
The diversions come after a Qatari liquefied natural gas tanker and a Saudi-flagged crude oil tanker were damaged near the strait on Tuesday following reports that Iran fired missiles at ships in the waterway, prompting maritime authorities to raise the threat risk for transiting vessels to "severe."
LNG tankers — Al Ghariya, Duhail, and Al Ruwais — have all been inching westward towards the Strait of Hormuz before changing course to turn away late on Tuesday, as shown by data from analytics firms Kpler and LSEG. All three tankers controlled by QatarEnergy were empty and heading towards Qatar's Ras Laffan export facility to load cargoes.
Meanwhile, LSEG and Kpler data also showed that an Indian-flagged tanker carrying two million barrels of Kuwaiti crude, loaded late last week, made a U-turn off the tip of Oman in the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday.
At least 16 liquefied natural gas cargoes from Ras Laffan and 10 from ADNOC's Das Island terminal in the United Arab Emirates have exited the strait since the conflict began in late February. But this is still a fraction of the roughly seven million metric tons typically shipped from both export hubs each month.
A queue of ballast or empty vessels waiting to load at Ras Laffan has also built up, reaching more than 10 ships in early July, according to Vortexa analysts.
Over 50 QatarEnergy- and ADNOC-controlled ballast vessels are stationed around the Middle East Gulf, India and the Strait of Melaka, with some switching off their Automatic Identification System signals for more than 10 days.
Still, at least two crude oil tankers managed to exit the strait. The VLCC Tenjun, managed by Nippon Yusen KK and carrying two million barrels of Qatari crude loaded in late February, exited the Strait of Hormuz late on Tuesday.
VLCC Pertamina Pride, managed by Indonesia's state energy firm Pertamina, also exited the strait on Tuesday, with its transponder switched off, according to shipping data. The vessel is carrying two million barrels of Saudi crude loaded in early March.
Nippon Yusen declined to comment on the Tenjun tanker. Pertamina did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
