The number of tankers crossing the Strait of Hormuz fell to just one on Thursday, the lowest level since May 7, according to tracking data, amid ongoing shipping risks in the Middle East and as oil prices surged back to $100 a barrel.
Data from analytics firm Kpler showed one tanker crossed the Strait of Hormuz on July 23, compared with three the day earlier.
Very large crude carrier New Giant, loaded with 2 million barrels of Iraqi Basrah crude, exited the strait on Thursday and is due to arrive at China's Rizhao Port by mid-August.
No ships entered the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, even as the US military said it had completed a 13th consecutive night of strikes on Iran.
Meanwhile, at the Bab Al Mandeb strait, commodity tanker crossings totalled 32 on Thursday, up from 26 the day before, Kpler data showed.
Of those crossings, 14 tankers were going into the Red Sea and 18 were exiting the strait into the Gulf of Aden.
Out of the 18 tankers exiting Bab Al Mandeb, nine were carrying crude oil, including two loaded Chinese supertankers bound for China.
Separately, the clean tanker Torm Innovation – loaded with about 500,000 barrels of naphtha bound for Asia – has made a slight turn for the Suez Canal exit instead of a typical Bab Al Mandeb exit, Kpler and LSEG ship-tracking data showed.
Rerouting ships via the Suez Canal to Asia instead of via the Bab Al Mandeb strait could make a voyage nearly three times as long, regional trade sources said.
Saudi Aramco has started offering additional crude cargo loading at Egypt's Mediterranean port of Sidi Kerir as a workaround from loading at its Red Sea ports.
