The Umm Al Ashtan, which is managed by Adnoc Logistics & Services, reappeared northwest of Muscat, Oman, loaded with a cargo and listing its destination as India, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. The vessel stopped sending a signal around May 2, but at the time was empty and idling near the eastern entrance of Hormuz.
Satellite images show the ship appears to have loaded a cargo at Adnoc’s Das Island export plant, which is in the Persian Gulf behind Hormuz, during the period it wasn’t sending a signal. The pictures show that LNG tankers have been docking at Das Island, even though no vessels broadcast their positions near the plant.
The move comes amid a mini-flurry in energy flows transiting through Hormuz, with at least two non-Iranian oil supertankers exiting the Persian Gulf. The strait has remained virtually shut to LNG traffic since the war in Iran began in late February — choking about a fifth of global supply of the fuel.
Adnoc has exported three other shipments from the Persian Gulf on tankers that went dark when traversing the waterway. The last of those is currently docking in western India. Adnoc didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Still, that represents only a fraction of pre-war volumes, when roughly three tankers carrying the super-chilled fuel exited Hormuz on a daily basis, mostly carrying fuel from bigger exporter Qatar.