A tanker ship passed through the Strait of Hormuz bound for China on Monday, the first shipment of natural gas to successfully exit the Persian Gulf since the start of the war with Iran.
The LNG tanker Al Mubarraz, loaded with more than 130,000 cubic meters of gas from the United Arab Emirates, was idling in the disputed waterway when its transponder exploded in late March, according to financial data provider LSEG.
The signal finally appeared, on Monday, west of the Indian coast, indicating that it was able to sail through the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of the world’s supplies of oil and natural gas pass. As reported by the Wall Street Journal.
The ship is now on its way to Tianjin, northern China, according to ship-tracking website MarineTraffic.
Mubarraz is managed by a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi’s state-owned oil company, ADNOC.
Earlier in April, an empty gas tanker transited the Strait of Hormuz after spending weeks in southern Pakistan.
More than a dozen gas tankers remain trapped inside the Persian Gulf, according to analysts.
Last week, the number of ships passing through the strait fell to its lowest level since the start of the war on February 28, after the United States closed the waterway to tankers linked to Iran.
Iran has previously threatened and attacked commercial ships that tried to pass through Hormuz without paying any fees.
Just 35 crossings were made in the week of April 20-26, down from 78 the previous week, according to data from Lloyd’s List Intelligence.
Of the 35 ships, 24 were linked to Iranian trade, including 16 vessels belonging to the Islamic regime’s sanctions-evading shadow fleet.
Before the war, about 130 ships crossed the strait daily to reach markets, especially those in Asia.
This comes at a time when Iran renewed its attacks on commercial ships on April 19, a week after the start of the US blockade.
Lloyd’s figures include only large cargo ships of more than 10,000 tons.