A tanker carrying two million barrels of crude oil is heading towards Europe having left the Gulf at the end of May, the first such shipment since March, data from the maritime tracking firm Kpler showed Wednesday.
The Advantage Victory, a Marshall Islands-flagged tanker, passed through the Strait of Hormuz on May 27 without indicating its destination.
The vessel revealed its destination only on Monday, with its AIS signal indicating “NL RTM”, the code for Rotterdam in the Netherlands, one of Europe’s biggest ports.
It is scheduled to arrive on July 7.
The tanker, which was loaded with Iraqi oil at Basra on February 24 and March 1, is currently off the coast of Madagascar, according to its transponder.
It was the first tanker to traverse the Strait of Hormuz with oil heading to Europe since March 1, when the ship New Vision left the Gulf 1 amid the confusion after the United States and Israel began attacking Iran on February 28.
The tanker unloaded in Le Havre, France and Southwold, Britain in early April.
Around 103 oil tankers have left the Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz since March 1st, carrying a total of 185 million barrels of crude oil, according to Kpler data.
Specifically, 92 million barrels of Iranian oil have left the Gulf since the start of the war, along with 42 million barrels of Emirati oil, 22 million barrels of Iraqi oil, 20 million barrels of Saudi oil, seven million barrels of Kuwaiti oil, and three million barrels of Qatari oil.
From the beginning of the war until mid-April, when the US blockade of Iranian ports began, oil leaving the Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz was primarily Iranian, at 81 percent.
Since mid-April, tankers have come mainly from other Gulf countries (84 percent), with most unloading for clients in Asia or the Middle East.
The destination of some tankers, primarily Iranian, is unknown.
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