Four Tanker Ships Turn Back, Cancel Crossing Hormuz Strait Due to Iranian Attack

PHOTO © Jie Zhang via UN News/View of the Strait of Hormuz from Musandam Peninsula, Oman.

JAKARTA - Four oil and gas tankers have turned around and canceled their attempts to cross the Strait of Hormuz since Iran launched an attack on three ships near the vital waterway on Tuesday.

As reported by CNN, Wednesday, July 8, the tanker ships Al Ghariya, Duhail, and Al Ruwais had moved slowly west towards the Strait of Hormuz before changing course and turning around on Tuesday night. This is shown by data from the analytical companies Kpler and LSEG as reported by Reuters.

The three liquefied natural gas (LNG) tankers managed by QatarEnergy are empty and are heading to Qatar's Ras Laffan export facility to load cargo.

The Indian-flagged tanker, Lila Vadinar, which was carrying two million barrels of Kuwaiti crude, turned around near the tip of Oman's territory in the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, according to tracking data.

However, a number of ships still managed to cross the strait amid rising tensions. Data shows that the Mercury Hope - a very large crude carrier (VLCC) carrying two million barrels of United Arab Emirates crude oil - has left the strait on Wednesday.

According to Reuters, another VLCC, the Japanese ship Tenjun, had left the strait on Tuesday night. In addition, the Indonesian VLCC named Pertamina Pride also left the strait on Tuesday, July 7, with the transponder in a dead state.

Both ships were carrying 2 million barrels of oil each.