UAE Restores Pre-War Crude Exports Through Hormuz Before Final US-Iran Deal

The United Arab Emirates restored its crude oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz to pre-war levels by the time the US and Iran signed their interim peace deal. Fortune reported that the recovery relied on covert tactics in which tankers traveled without active transponders, often at night, before transferring cargo to other vessels in the Gulf of Oman.

Sinokor Group began leasing supertankers to Abu Dhabi National Oil Co.

For the shuttle runs by at least mid-April. By June, vessels controlled by Sinokor carried almost half of all Emirati crude shipments, according to Vortexa ship-tracking data.

Shipbrokers estimated that three Sinokor tankers conducting the runs since mid-April could have earned the company between $60 million and $120 million. Since the interim ceasefire, Sinokor has sent additional supertankers into the Persian Gulf, including at least two that completed round-trip voyages.

In late June the company provisionally booked a vessel to carry Persian Gulf crude to India at one of the year’s highest rates.

Fortune reported that Adnoc L&S stated it does not comment on vessel positions, movements or routing but confirmed it operates an extensive fleet of owned and chartered vessels. Sinokor did not respond to requests for comment. ” Tankers collected UAE crude at Zirku and Das Island, sailed roughly two days with transponders off through the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz, then transferred cargo in the Gulf of Oman.

Since April, Sinokor vessels transported an average of at least 680,000 barrels per day of UAE crude from Persian Gulf ports, according to Kpler and Vortexa data. In the week before publication Sinokor dispatched at least 18 supertankers into the Persian Gulf with capacity to carry 36 million barrels.