Second ADNOC tanker transits Strait of Hormuz as efforts to open the chokepoint continue
ANOTHER tanker owned by Abu Dhabi’s state-owned oil company has transited the Strait of Hormuz, becoming only the second to make an eastbound transit since the war in the region began nearly a month ago.
Liberia-flagged, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company-owned, long range two Abu Dhabi-III (IMO: 9489027) made the transit through the crucial chokepoint on March 19 and is now at anchorage off Vadinar, India, where it arrived on March 23.
The only other ADNOC product tanker to make the voyage eastwards through the strait is Liberia-flagged LR2 Al Ruwais (IMO: 9828405), which is in the Indian Ocean having just passed south of Sri Lanka. It made its transit through the Strait of Hormuz on March 15.
Both vessels transited the strait with their Automatic Identification Systems turned off.
From January 1, 2025 until February 24, 2026 (marking the last full week before the US-Israeli strikes began), an average of almost five ADNOC-owned vessels were transiting the busy strait every week.
But like the majority of oil and product exports through the chokepoint, that steady flow has slowed to a trickle.
On March 23, ADNOC chief executive Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber told the CERAWeek conference in Houston, Texas that his company had “took hits that no civilian enterprise, let alone one focused on delivering energy to the world, should ever have to deal with”.
“Much of the oxygen of the global economy runs through a single throat” he said, “and yet there are those who believe that choking the throat is an acceptable strategy.”
Jaber called the weaponisation of the strait “economic terrorism against every nation”.
Open importance
The importance of keeping the Strait of Hormuz open has not been lost on US President Donald Trump, who gave Iran 48 hours to open the strait fully on Saturday evening. If not, he threatened to “obliterate” Iranian power plants.
Those threats have since been rowed back after what president Trump called “very good talks” were held with Iran, which in turn saw oil prices subside.
But the oil tap through Hormuz has still not been fully turned on.
According to Reuters, Bahrain has submitted a draft resolution to the United Nations Security Council which would allow nations to use “all necessary means” to protect commercial shipping in and around the Strait of Hormuz.
In the carefully phrased language of the UN, “all necessary means” can include armed force.
The text, seen by Reuters, would enable nations to use navies to protect shipping in their territorial waters. It is reportedly backed by the Middle East Gulf states and the US, though Russia and China’s veto power on the council makes accession unlikely.
South Korea, which imports the majority of its oil from the MEG, has continued to take a diplomatic approach to see exports flowing again.
Foreign Minister Cho Hyun urged his Iranian counterpart Seyyed Abbas Araghchi to take “de-escalation measures to halt attacks on civilians and facilities in Middle East Gulf countries, guarantee navigation safety in the Strait of Hormuz, and normalise global energy supplies” in a phone call yesterday.
His requests for Iran to safeguard South Korean seafarers and vessels trapped in the MEG may fall on deaf ears if reports that the Islamic Republic have deployed mines in the strait are to be believed.
The reports, emanating from US officials, claim Iran is using limpet mines to block the strait, a tactic it has been of accused of using against commercial shipping in the past.
But there remain doubts of the veracity of such reports. A spokesperson for the central headquarters of the Iranian armed forces said it had no need to lay mines, thanks to its existing “dominance and power” in the MEG.
Risk Intelligence senior analyst Dirk Siebels highlighted that Iran had already lost a “significant portion of its navy and mine-laying capabilities”.
“Convincing a crew of Iranian sailors to sail into the Strait of Hormuz and lay mines under the immediate threat of US attacks will likely prove difficult,” he told Lloyd’s List.
Disruption to commercial vessel traffic could instead be achieved as successfully by drone or missile attacks, he said.
“There have certainly been threats issued but this should be expected in the current situation.”
Data analysis by Bridget Diakun
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