Bloomberg reported that the covert shipments, which exceed 4 million barrels per day, involve oil from the UAE, Iraq, Qatar, and Kuwait. The crude is transported through the strait and then transferred to other tankers in the Gulf of Oman for onward delivery.
Satellite imagery from Sentinel 1 shows about 150 vessels off the coast of Oman, up from roughly 40 in January, indicating the scale of the operations.
Before the war between the US, Israel, and Iran, about 20 million barrels per day passed through the Strait of Hormuz, accounting for a fifth of global supplies. Last week, US Energy Secretary Chris Wright estimated the current flow at 9 million barrels per day, nearly half the pre-war level.
The hidden shipments, combined with pipeline use, release of reserves, and lower demand, have kept Brent mostly in the $80–90 per barrel range, although at the start of the war market participants had anticipated prices could rise to $150, The Insider noted.
The shipments remain highly dangerous. The UAE's state oil company Adnoc said that since the conflict began, 23 of its vessels had been attacked while transiting the Strait of Hormuz, with one sailor killed and 20 wounded. Bloomberg sources claim the actual number of incidents involving commercial ships may be higher than officially known.
Amid threats to the alternative route through the Red Sea, Saudi Arabia is also stepping up activity. Sixteen supertankers from Saudi Arabia's Bahri are already concentrated off the coast of Oman, with three more heading there. Together, they can carry about 38 million barrels of oil.