Three Supertankers Carrying Six Million Barrels Of Oil Crossed The Strait Of Hormuz

• 21.05.2026, 12:07

After more than two months of waiting.

Three supertankers with 6 million barrels of Middle East oil on board crossed the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, May 20, after more than two months of waiting in the Persian Gulf.

According to Reuters.

The ships are among a handful of supertankers leaving the Persian Gulf this month on a transit route that Iran has obliged ships to use.

The U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, which began Feb. 28, has severely restricted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, which normally carries about a fifth of the world's oil and energy supplies.

Data showed the South Korean-flagged supertanker Universal Winner, carrying 2 million barrels of Kuwaiti crude loaded on March 4, was leaving the strait after two Chinese tankers departed on Wednesday.

Kpler data showed the tanker was headed for Ulsan, home to SK Energy, the country's largest refinery.

"Before the war, shipping traffic through the strait averaged between 125 and 140 passages a day, and 20,000 sailors remain stranded in the Persian Gulf aboard hundreds of vessels," the publication said. - "According to a Reuters analysis based on vessel tracking data, the average shipping traffic in recent days was 10 vessels entering and leaving the strait, which included cargo ships and other vessels such as chemical and liquefied gas tankers, with crude oil tankers still a small proportion of the total."