Reuters: UAE quietly ships oil tankers through Strait of Hormuz

The United Arab Emirates has recently sent several crude oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz while disabling location-tracking systems to avoid potential Iranian attacks, Reuters reports, citing industry sources and shipping data.

The outlet said the volumes transported are only a small fraction of the UAE’s pre-war export levels, highlighting “the risks the producer and buyers are willing to take to free up oil sales.”

Other major producers in the Gulf region — including Iraq, Kuwait, and Qatar — have either halted sales entirely or significantly reduced prices to attract buyers, while Saudi Arabia is reportedly conducting shipments only via the Red Sea.

Data from vessel-tracking platforms Kpler and satellite analysis firm SynMax indicate that in April, Abu Dhabi’s national oil company exported at least 6 million barrels of crude on four tankers from terminals inside the Gulf.

Sources noted that part of the cargo was transferred via ship-to-ship operations before being delivered to a refinery in Southeast Asia, while the remainder was either stored in Oman or shipped directly to refineries in South Korea.

By Bakhtiyar Abbasov