Oil Prices Rise and Ship Traffic Through the Strait of Hormuz Declines Following Tensions Between Iran and the United States.
New shipping data show that vessel traffic through the Strait of Hormuz declined again on Saturday and Sunday of the current week following a new round of reciprocal attacks between Iran and the United States in the strategic waterway.
At the same time, the attacks and the resulting tensions caused oil prices, which had eased following the signing of the Islamabad memorandum of understanding, to resume an upward trend.
According to data released on Monday, June 29, by the maritime analytics company Kpler, a total of only 29 cargo vessels passed through the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, while 12 vessels transited the strait on Sunday.
Before the outbreak of the war involving the United States and Israel against Iran, which led to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), at least 130 vessels, including oil tankers and container ships, passed through the waterway each day.
According to Agence France-Presse (AFP), Sunday’s figures show a sharp decline compared with the previous week, when the signing of a memorandum of understanding between Tehran and Washington on June 15 pushed traffic through the strait to its highest level since the start of the 40-day war. According to Kpler, the number of transits reached 70 last Wednesday.
Despite Iran’s warning against using unauthorized shipping routes, vessels continued to use several different routes to transit the waterway over the weekend.
After a ship was struck while transiting the strait on Saturday morning, vessels continued using the southern corridor in Omani waters for several hours. However, according to Kpler data, traffic declined afterward.
On Saturday and Sunday, the number of ships entering the Persian Gulf also exceeded the number leaving it, reversing the trend seen the previous week. During the previous week, the main focus had been on evacuating seafarers stranded in the Persian Gulf.
The United Nations-led operation to evacuate 11,000 seafarers was suspended on Thursday after a ship was attacked in the Gulf of Oman.
Following Iran’s attacks on these vessels, the U.S. military carried out strikes in southern Iran early Saturday and Sunday. In response, Iran launched an attack on Bahrain.
According to a post published on X by HFI Research, four oil tankers and one container ship entered the Persian Gulf through the southern corridor in Omani waters on Sunday under escort by U.S. Navy warships.
However, according to Kpler data, no vessels used the same route to leave the Persian Gulf on Sunday.
Oil Prices Rise Again
Amid renewed tensions in the Strait of Hormuz, oil prices rose again after falling sharply last week and approaching their pre-war levels.
According to Reuters, oil prices increased on Monday, June 29, after several days of attacks by the United States and Iran once again slowed energy shipments through the Strait of Hormuz.
According to reports, Brent crude from the North Sea rose to about $72.57 per barrel on Monday morning, while U.S. crude reached $70.11 per barrel.
This compares with last Friday, when Brent crude fell by more than 4% to $71.99 per barrel, while U.S. crude declined to $69.23 per barrel.
