On April 23 Fars News Agency reports that Iran’s oil-loading infrastructure remains intact and that cargoes are still flowing toward China, according to maritime analytics firm Kpler.
Fahrs reported, “U.S. Central Command claimed overnight that American forces have redirected 31 vessels to return to port or turn around as part of the ongoing U.S. blockade against Iran. Most of the redirected vessels were oil tankers, CENTCOM posted on X. The U.S. has also seized an Iranian-flagged vessel in the Gulf of Oman and boarded a sanctioned vessel in the Indian Ocean.”
However, Fars goes on: “Despite the blockade, tankers are still positioned in Iran’s loading zones and Iranian crude continues to move toward China, Kpler data shows. The maritime analytics firm estimated the flow of crude from Iran to China to be 985,000 barrels per day in the first half of April. Since then, this flow has not been interrupted, Kpler added.”
It continues that, “at Jask, an Iranian oil export terminal which bypasses the Strait of Hormuz, there is an all-time high of 5.8 million barrels in storage, Kpler said. Tankers laden with oil are able to exit the Jask terminal into the Gulf of Oman without passing through the strait. ‘The blockade has disrupted the oil machine, but it has not broken it,’” Kpler noted.
