Hormuz traffic increases, at least two sanctioned ships cross strait: CAS

Eight ships crossed through the Strait of Hormuz on March 10, up from three ships the day before, according to an S&P Global Commodities at Sea report on March 11.

Two of the ships were tankers, both sanctioned, according to the report. The US-sanctioned Marser, a Very Large Gas Carrier, moved eastbound out of the Persian Gulf, having "likely loaded Iranian LPG via ship-to-ship transfer between March 9 and March 10," the report said. The other tanker was the Breez, an MR tanker sanctioned by the US, the EU and the UK that sailed westbound into the Gulf, according to the report.

Some 1 million barrels of Saudi crude loaded from the Juaymah terminal on March 10 as a co-load on the VLCC tanker Majra, the CAS report said. Another 3 million barrels of Oman Blend loaded from Mina al Fahal, it said.

Crude loadings from the region are averaging 10.5 million barrels/day so far in March, down from 18.8 million b/d for February, it said. Loadings west of Hormuz have declined to 6.4 million b/d so far in March from 16.6 million b/d in February, it said.

Total loadings of Oman Blend from Mina al Fahal have increased to more than 1 million b/d so far in March, up from 855,000 b/d in February, while Murban loadings from the UAE's Fujairah have averaged 874,000 b/d so far in March. If sustained at that pace, that would be about a third lower than in February, according to the report.

Platts, part of S&P Global Energy, assessed the rate to carry 130,000 metric tons of crude from the Persian Gulf to the Far East at $164.10/mt on March 11, up from $51.42/mt on Feb. 27.