The United Arab Emirates recently secretly sent several tankers loaded with crude oil through the Strait of Hormuz, Reuters reported, citing industry sources and shipping data.
The tankers had their location trackers turned off.
The volumes are a fraction of the UAE's typical exports before the US-Israeli war on Iran, but they demonstrate the risks that producers and buyers are willing to take to free up oil sales. Other Gulf producers - Iraq, Kuwait and Qatar - have either stopped sales, or have significantly reduced prices to attract uninterested buyers, or are only shipping via the Red Sea, as is the case with Saudi Arabia.
In April, the UAE National Oil Company "Abu Dhabi" managed to export at least 4 million barrels of crude oil from Upper Zakum and 2 million barrels of crude oil from Das in four tankers from terminals in the Persian Gulf, according to three sources, ship-tracking data from Kpler and satellite data analysis from SynMax.
The shipments were either unloaded via ship-to-ship transfer (STS) to a vessel that later transported the oil to a refinery in Southeast Asia, or unloaded for storage in Oman, or sailed directly to South Korean refineries, according to the three sources.
Tehran responded to the US-Israeli attacks that began on February 28 by closing the Strait of Hormuz.
Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) has had to cut exports by more than 1 million barrels per day since the start of the war, from the 3.1 million barrels per day it shipped last year, Kpler data showed. Most of its exports are of the "Murban" variety, shipped by pipeline from onshore fields to Fujairah.
ADNOC shipments are at risk of attack from Iran. This was highlighted by the UAE on May 6 when it accused Iran of using drones to attack an empty ADNOC tanker, the Barakah, as it passed through the Strait of Hormuz.
The tankers that were secretly transported through the strait had their automatic identification system transponders turned off, reducing the likelihood of being spotted by Iranian forces. The tactic is often used by Iran to circumvent US sanctions on oil exports.
It also makes it difficult to track ADNOC’s total export volume through industry shipping data, meaning the volumes it shipped from the Persian Gulf in April may be higher.
However, Kpler data shows that the VLCC Hafeet loaded 2 million barrels of Upper Zakum in the Gulf of Mexico on April 7 and left the strait on April 15.
Outside the strait, the cargo was transferred to the Greek-flagged VLCC Olympic Luck on April 17-18 and was sent to the Pengerang refinery in Malaysia, a joint venture between Malaysian state oil company Petronas and Saudi Aramco, Kpler data and analysis by SynMax show.
The Hafeet is operated by ADNOC’s Logistics and Services unit, which declined to comment. Greece-based Olympic Shipping & Management, which operates Olympic Luck, and Petronas did not respond to requests for comment.
The separation of oil from the STS allows ADNOC to sell smaller cargoes and free up VLCCs to quickly return to the Gulf to be reloaded.
One of the broken cargoes from Upper Zakum has sailed to a refinery in Northeast Asia and was sold at a record premium of $20 a barrel above ADNOC’s official selling price, a source said.
For Das crude from Abu Dhabi, the VLCC Aliakmon I loaded 2 million barrels of the same grade on April 27 and left the strait on May 2, unloading at the Ras Markaz storage terminal in Oman on May 3, Kpler data showed.
Kpler and SynMax also found two Suezmax tankers - the Odessa and the Zouzou N. - carrying 1 million barrels each Upper Zakum, bound for South Korea after exiting the strait.
All three tankers are operated by Greek company Dynacom Tankers Management. It was not clear who chartered the Dynacom tankers and the company did not respond to a request for comment.
ADNOC intends to continue selling oil from inside the strait, notifying some customers in late April that they could load Das and Upper Zakum crude from May via STS transfers to ports outside the Persian Gulf, including Fujairah and Sohar in Oman.
The company is in talks with Asian refiners to sell Das and Upper Zakum cargoes loaded in May, a source said.