On the afternoon of July 25, the Greek-owned supertanker Kiku docked at Qatar’s Mesaieed oil export terminal, a massive, 30-berth port on the country’s west coast, 25 miles south of Doha.
Four days later, loaded with crude oil, the Kiku passed through the Strait of Hormuz. The Very Large Crude Carrier – the largest oil tanker class, stretching over 1,000 feet – maintained a steady pace of 13 knots across the Persian Gulf, near its top speed.
Then, on July 31, shortly after 2 pm just off the coast of Dubai, the Kiku vanished.
How a tanker went dark through the Strait of Hormuz
The Kiku loaded off Qatar on July 27, then stopped broadcasting its position for 21 hours as it passed through the Strait of Hormuz. It reappeared off Fujairah, United Arab Emirates, where it spent 32 hours alongside the Nave Electron before the Nave Electron left for Asia.
The vessel had switched off its AIS transponder, a marine radio device that broadcasts a ship’s identity, speed, course and position. To tracking services that monitor worldwide maritime traffic, it was as if the Kiku simply disappeared.
Suddenly, at 10 am on August 1, the Kiku’s signal reappeared – on the other side of the Strait of Hormuz.
It was part of the oil industry’s latest tactic – “dark,” US-military-escorted nighttime transits across the strait. The aim: Avoid Iranian drone attacks – like the one that struck the Kiku a month earlier, but failed to explode.
Aided by the US Navy, Saudi, Kuwaiti, Qatari and Emirati oil companies have chartered oil tankers to turn their transponders off and shuttle oil out of the Persian Gulf, through the Strait of Hormuz, to the Gulf of Oman, where they offload their crude to waiting tankers owned by their customers and then head back through the strait.
On the afternoon of July 25, the Greek-owned supertanker Kiku docked at Qatar’s Mesaieed oil export terminal, a massive, 30-berth port on the country’s west coast, 25 miles south of Doha.
Four days later, loaded with crude oil, the Kiku passed through the Strait of Hormuz. The Very Large Crude Carrier – the largest oil tanker class, stretching over 1,000 feet – maintained a steady pace of 13 knots across the Persian Gulf, near its top speed.
Then, on July 31, shortly after 2 pm just off the coast of Dubai, the Kiku vanished.
The vessel had switched off its AIS transponder, a marine radio device that broadcasts a ship’s identity, speed, course and position. To tracking services that monitor worldwide maritime traffic, it was as if the Kiku simply disappeared.
Suddenly, at 10 am on August 1, the Kiku’s signal reappeared – on the other side of the Strait of Hormuz.
It was part of the oil industry’s latest tactic – “dark,” US-military-escorted nighttime transits across the strait. The aim: Avoid Iranian drone attacks – like the one that struck the Kiku a month earlier, but failed to explode.
A new normal:
How traffic through the Strait of Hormuz is adapting to war
Aided by the US Navy, Saudi, Kuwaiti, Qatari and Emirati oil companies have chartered oil tankers to turn their transponders off and shuttle oil out of the Persian Gulf, through the Strait of Hormuz, to the Gulf of Oman, where they offload their crude to waiting tankers owned by their customers and then head back through the strait.
That has taken the costly burden of insurance risk and physical danger of Iranian attacks away from commercial shippers and placed it on the US government and the oil producers themselves.
It has become an effective strategy, according to the US Department of Energy, which says oil traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has averaged between 8 million and 9 million barrels per day. That’s a meaningful amount of crude – roughly double what Wall Street oil analysts and shipping trackers like Kpler, using transponder data, would suggest.
The clandestine transits have changed the game for the Middle Eastern oil industry.
CNN has observed more than a dozen ship-to-ship transfers in the Gulf of Oman over two days, with tankers moving on to destinations such as China, Taiwan, South Korea, the Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand.
It’s a dangerous and expensive gambit that offers some temporary relief to the oil market. But with permanent solutions – a negotiated end to the war and lasting plan for the strait – remaining elusive, this workaround buys time.
Dark transits
The increase in dark transits like the Kiku’s recent journey comes at a crucial time for the energy market.
The war, lasting far longer than many had imagined, has disrupted a fifth of the world’s oil supply for six months but reached an inflection point in recent weeks: Billions of oil and fuel barrels in commercial stockpiles have vanished. US emergency reserves haven’t been this small since the early 1980s. China’s reliance on its massive oil inventory – a key factor in preventing $150 oil – won’t last forever. And bond market investors and voters are running out of patience with high prices.
It’s a dangerous and expensive gambit that offers some temporary relief to the oil market. But with permanent solutions – a negotiated end to the war and lasting plan for the strait – remaining elusive, this workaround buys time.
Dark transits
The increase in dark transits like the Kiku’s recent journey comes at a crucial time for the energy market.
The war, lasting far longer than many had imagined, has disrupted a fifth of the world’s oil supply for six months but reached an inflection point in recent weeks: Billions of oil and fuel barrels in commercial stockpiles have vanished. US emergency reserves haven’t been this small since the early 1980s. China’s reliance on its massive oil inventory – a key factor in preventing $150 oil – won’t last forever. And bond market investors and voters are running out of patience with high prices.
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