Oil trade unchanged, but fewer UK tankers will cross the Strait of Hormuz - Refinitiv | ZAWYA MENA Edition

Oil trade unchanged, but fewer UK tankers will cross the Strait of Hormuz - Refinitiv | ZAWYA MENA Edition:

Tensions in the Strait of Hormuz have heightened in the wake of Iran’s seizure of an oil tanker, and the number of British-flagged tankers crossing the region is expected to drop significantly as a result. However, Refinitiv ship tracking data suggests that the oil trade has remained unaffected.               

Tensions in the Gulf escalated to new levels in July when the British-flagged Stena Impero, owned by Sweden’s Stena Bulk, was seized by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. Ship-tracking data from Refinitiv shows that the British vessel had not deviated from its passage through the Strait of Hormuz, where a strict traffic separation scheme is in operation under the rules of International Maritime Organization. 


Refinitiv’s data also shows that the first half of 2019 has recorded a total of 5,250 tankers (oil and LNG) compared to the total of 11,277 tankers sailing in the region over the whole of 2018. The drop in the number of ships in the region is partly due to a fall in exports from Iran and to the maintenance season in Asia during the first half of the year.