Iranian oil tankers cluster shy of US blockade line

Tankers laden with Iranian oil are clustering off Chabahar, a port in Iran that’s outside the Persian Gulf but just shy of the US blockade line.

Around six to eight supertankers were idling in waters near the port in the Gulf of Oman late last week, according to satellite images and analyses from United Against Nuclear Iran and maritime intelligence firm Windward, with more smaller tankers nearby.

It is the same area where the US Navy said it had redirected two very large crude carriers that it intercepted last week.

Meanwhile, estimates by Vortexa show that around 155 million barrels of Iranian crude oil are either in transit or stored in floating storage tankers around the world, according to Bloomberg.

Tehran has also resorted to reactivating old and aging vessels. The tanker Nasha oil tanker, which is about 30 years old, was spotted sailing toward Kharg Island. The vessel has a capacity of 2 million barrels and has returned to service after being inactive for three years.