Gulf oil producers expand crude deliveries outside the Strait of Hormuz

en.Wedoany.com Reported - From August 26 to 27, several state-owned energy companies in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Kuwait continued to adjust their crude loading methods, shifting more cargoes to ship-to-ship (STS) transfers outside the Strait of Hormuz. QatarEnergy offered crude in a sales tender for the first time with delivery points moved outside the strait, Saudi Aramco continued to arrange STS transfers near Fujairah in the UAE and Sohar in Oman, while ADNOC and Kuwait Petroleum Corporation arranged VLCC loadings at Fujairah.

QatarEnergy's tender covers Al-Shaheen and Qatar Marine crude grades, with delivery scheduled for the first half of October via STS outside the strait, and bids due by 12:00 Doha time on August 26. Previously, the company had offered Al-Shaheen, Qatar Marine, and Qatar Land crude on a FOB basis at its loading terminals in Qatar, but that tender failed to award. Since June, ADNOC has issued nine spot crude sales tenders and has used shuttle tankers to move crude out of the Gulf before transferring it to buyer-nominated vessels in the Gulf of Oman.

Saudi Aramco has offered Arab Medium and Arab Heavy crude for STS delivery near Fujairah or Sohar to Asian buyers for a second consecutive week. At least 4 million barrels of Saudi crude have been sold to China via this method in August, with two shuttle tankers completing transfers of approximately 4 million barrels near Sohar, after which the receiving vessels sailed to Ningbo and Zhanjiang in China. The sales also include medium and heavy crude grades sold to PetroChina and Sinopec.

ADNOC and Kuwait Petroleum Corporation have also arranged four VLCCs to load at Fujairah in the spot market this week, with ADNOC selecting three vessels for loading this week and Kuwait Petroleum Corporation arranging at least one for early September. A single VLCC typically carries about 2 million barrels of crude, and these cargoes are expected to originate from oil fields and loading facilities inside the Persian Gulf.

Iraq continues to load crude from export facilities inside the strait. On August 24, seven tankers loaded crude from Iraqi export facilities; earlier, Iran had allowed some Iraqi tankers to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. Iraq's State Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO) has continued to offer Basrah crude for September loading during the same period, with buyers still responsible for loading inside the strait under the relevant deals.

On August 24, Iran placed 45 tankers on a restricted list and warned of fines, detention, or cargo confiscation for vessels violating its strait transit rules or conducting STS transfers with listed vessels. Subsequently, at least three Indian refiners and one international energy company decided to avoid vessels on the list, including refraining from using them in STS operations. On August 26, identifiable commercial vessel transits through the Strait of Hormuz stood at five, below the daily average of 15 over the previous 10 days; identifiable transits rose to 10 on August 27.