Amid the massive disruption in maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, two crude oil tankers—cumulatively carrying roughly 3 million barrels of West Asian oil—have arrived in India after transiting the fraught waters of the Strait, according to vessel tracking data and industry sources.
One of the tankers—Liberia-flagged Shenlong carrying around 1 million barrels of Saudi Arabian crude oil—arrived at Mumbai port on Wednesday, shipping data showed. Shenlong—a Suezmax tanker—had set sail on March 3 from Saudi Arabia’s Ras Tanura port for Mumbai, whose suburbs house refineries of Bharat Petroleum Corporation and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation. Another tanker—an India-flagged very large crude carrier (VLCC) with around 2 million barrels of crude from Iraq—also arrived at Mumbai, from where it is headed to Odisha’s Paradip, where a large Indian Oil Corporation refinery is located, a source in the know said, but declined to name the vessel due to safety reasons.
Both tankers are estimated to have crossed the Strait of Hormuz—the narrow waterway between Iran and Oman that connects the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea—sometime in the past five-six days.
These mark the first known instances of non-Iranian crude oil tankers transiting the critical chokepoint of the Strait of Hormuz, where vessel movements have effectively come to a halt since the West Asia conflict started on February 28. Reports indicate that Iran was allowing only its own oil tankers—headed to China—to cross the Strait. According to sources in India’s oil and gas industry, the arrival of tankers has raised hopes that more of India’s energy supplies that are currently stuck in the Persian Gulf could find their way to the country in the coming days and weeks.
Sources indicated that India is talking to Iran to secure the safe passage of vessels headed to India, particularly oil and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) tankers, a number of which are stuck to the west of the Strait of Hormuz.
Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said that safety of shipping and India’s energy security have come up in Foreign Minister S Jaishankar’s discussions with his Iranian counterpart. “The External Affairs Minister and the Foreign Minister of Iran have had three conversations in recent days. In the last one, they discussed issues pertaining to the safety of shipping and India’s energy security. Beyond that, it would be premature for me to say anything,” Jaiswal said Thursday.
According to sources, the two oil tankers that have arrived in India may have sought permission from Iran to cross the Strait of Hormuz, although there is no confirmation on that. As per vessel tracking data, the tankers had switched off their Automatic Identification System (AIS) transponders—also called “going dark” in shipping parlance—to avoid public detection before crossing the Strait, and switched them on only after clearing the waterway, which usually handles approximately one-fifth of global liquid petroleum consumption and global liquefied natural gas (LNG) trade.
Around 2.5–2.7 million bpd of India’s crude imports—accounting for around half of the country’s total oil imports—have transited the Strait of Hormuz in recent months; the longer-term average is around 40%. This oil is mainly from Iraq, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Kuwait; India doesn’t buy Iranian oil due to American sanctions on Tehran. With Iran warning vessels to not transit through the Strait of Hormuz, and even hitting a few vessels that were passing through the waterway, there is an effective halt in maritime traffic through the Strait with most trading houses, insurers, and vessels loath to get involved in the prevailing extremely high-risk environment.
While India is in a relatively comfortable position with around eight weeks’ worth of stocks of crude oil, petrol, and diesel, the buffers are significantly lower when it comes to LPG, which crores of Indian households use as cooking fuel. In LPG, India’s reliance on West Asia is even more acute; the country depends on imports to meet around 60% of its LPG requirement, around 90% of which comes through the Strait of Hormuz. With over half of India’s LPG supplies effectively cut due to the conflict, supply disruptions in India are evident with all LPG now being diverted to households, thereby hitting commercial and industrial users of the fuel. If LPG cargoes stuck in the Persian Gulf manage to arrive in India in the coming days, it could provide significant relief on the supply front.
Notwithstanding the passage of the two oil tankers, the threat to maritime traffic around the Strait of Hormuz persists. Some vessels came under attack between Wednesday and Thursday as well, including the Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker SafeSea Vishnu, whose crew of 28 included 16 Indians, one of whom died in the attack near Iraq. According to the government, the other 15 were rescued and taken to Basra, and the Indian Embassy in Baghdad is in touch with them.
According to Shipping Ministry Special Secretary Rajesh Kumar Sinha, a total of 78 Indian seafarers were on ships that have come under attack in the region in recent days; 70 were rescued unharmed, four were injured and are now stable, three died, while one was missing. All these Indian seafarers were on board foreign-flagged vessels.
As for the 28 India-flagged vessels stuck in the region, all are accounted for. Sinha said that 24 vessels with 677 Indian seafarers are to the west of the Strait of Hormuz and four vessels with 101 Indians are to the east. Shipping authorities, ship managers, and seafarer recruitment agencies are actively monitoring the vessels and their crew for safety. They are coordinating with Indian missions and local authorities in the region to provide medical and safety assistance. Advisories have also been issued to Indian vessels to enhance security measures and comply strictly with reporting protocols.
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