SINGAPORE, May 11, 2026, 17:02 (SGT)
Three crude oil tankers carrying about 6 million barrels have left the Strait of Hormuz with their tracking systems switched off, shipping data from Kpler and LSEG showed, as buyers test a narrow route out of a Gulf waterway still shadowed by Iranian threats. The vessels included the very large crude carriers Agios Fanourios I and Kiara M, each loaded with 2 million barrels of Iraqi crude, and Basrah Energy, which carried 2 million barrels of Abu Dhabi Upper Zakum crude before offloading at Fujairah on May 8.
The moves matter now because Hormuz remains the pressure point in a 10-week conflict that has kept energy markets tight and nervous. Brent crude was up nearly 4% at $105.33 a barrel on Monday morning in Asia, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate rose more than 4% to $99.85 after President Donald Trump rejected Iran’s response to a U.S. peace proposal. Priyanka Sachdeva, senior market analyst at Phillip Nova, said oil was trading like a “geopolitical headline machine.” Reuters
Before the war began on February 28, the Strait of Hormuz carried about a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas flows. Traffic is now only a trickle, and each successful transit is being read by refiners, traders and governments as a test of how much supply can move before any broader deal is reached.
Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency said Agios Fanourios I crossed the strait on Iran’s designated route on Sunday, after reports that the ship had switched off trackers to reduce exposure to attack. The ship is loaded with Iraqi crude and is bound for Vietnam, where Reuters data showed it is due at the Nghi Son refinery later this month.
Gas cargoes are testing the same line. At least two LNG carriers from Abu Dhabi crossed Hormuz with their positions dark, while two Qatar-to-Pakistan vessels approached the strait and turned back, the Financial Times reported. Fraser Carson, a Wood Mackenzie research analyst, said it was “still early days” and only “a handful of cargoes,” warning that turning off positioning data was dangerous and not a lasting fix for the industry. Financial Times
One Qatari liquefied natural gas cargo later cleared the strait after talks between Pakistani, Iranian and Qatari officials, giving Islamabad a short-term energy lifeline. The Al Kharaitiyat, loaded in Qatar, reached the Gulf of Oman on Sunday on its way to Pakistan’s Port Qasim, and Pakistan expected three more Qatari LNG vessels to attempt passage in coming days.
The shipping workaround is uneven across Gulf exporters. ADNOC and its buyers have pushed some hidden crude tankers through Hormuz, but Reuters reported the volumes were only a fraction of the UAE’s normal exports; Iraq, Kuwait and Qatar have either halted sales, cut prices to attract buyers or, in Saudi Arabia’s case, leaned on Red Sea routes.
The risk is plain: the Automatic Identification System, or AIS, is the signal ships use to broadcast their position and help avoid collisions. Switching it off may lower the chance of detection by hostile forces, but it also makes crowded waters harder to police and leaves insurers, charterers and governments with a thinner picture of what is moving.
Diplomacy has not caught up with the traffic. Iran’s response to Washington’s proposal sought an end to the U.S. naval blockade, sanctions relief, compensation for war damage and recognition of Iranian sovereignty over Hormuz; Trump called the terms “TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE,” while Iran’s foreign ministry called its offer “generous and responsible.” Reuters
For now, the trade is not normal shipping. It is a series of guarded, unlit passages by vessels whose cargoes are too valuable to leave bottled up, and whose routes may stay fragile until Washington, Tehran and regional governments settle who controls safe passage through Hormuz.
