India-Linked Tanker Laden With Cooking Fuel Attempts Hormuz Exit

The Sarv Shakti was seen transiting the Strait of Hormuz early Saturday. via Bloomberg

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(Bloomberg) — An India-linked supertanker laden with liquefied petroleum gas is attempting to transit the Strait of Hormuz, a rare crossing that underscores the country’s struggle to alleviate a historic energy crisis.

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The Marshall Islands-flagged Sarv Shakti — laden with around 45,000 tons of LPG, commonly used as cooking fuel — appeared to move northward through the waterway, toward and then past Iran’s Larak and Qeshm islands on Saturday, in the direction of the Gulf of Oman, according to ship-tracking data.

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The very large gas carrier has previously made runs between the Persian Gulf and Indian ports and is broadcasting that it is heading to the country and has Indian crew, a safety measure frequently adopted by ships since the Iran war began.

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State-run Indian Oil Corp. was listed as the buyer of the cargo, according to a shipping document seen by Bloomberg. IOC did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

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If successful, Sarv Shakti’s passage would mark the first observed passage by an India-linked tanker since a weeks-old US blockade of ships tied to Iran began, pushing transits through Hormuz back down to nearly zero. It will also be one of the largest carriers to make the outbound crossing since a chaotic weekend last month, when the strait was briefly opened and then rapidly closed.

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As the world’s third-largest oil importer and the second-biggest consumer of LPG, India has scrambled to fill the supply gap left by Middle East producers. Acute shortages of the cooking fuel have triggered panic, queues and pared-down menus.

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New Delhi has focused on the safe passage of LPG carriers since the US and Israel began strikes on Iran at the end of February, even ordering its own ports to prioritize these tankers for berthing and discharging, while cranking up domestic production.

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Momentum was disrupted, however, by the April weekend when Iran initially said the thoroughfare was restored, only for its military to shoot at ships attempting to cross, forcing many to U-turn. One India-linked vessel, Aframax-sized crude tanker Desh Garima slipped through, though only by switching off its transponder signals. 

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Since then, traffic has returned to a near-standstill in Hormuz.

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India has managed to move eight LPG vessels through Hormuz during the conflict after bilateral negotiations with Tehran, and has been working on other exits.

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India has also raised domestic production of LPG by 60% to 54,000 tons in order to cope. Its consumption has dropped by 10,000 tons to 80,000 tons daily, Oil Minister Hardeep Puri said Friday.

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Sarv Shakti entered the Persian Gulf in early February. It received its cargo via a ship-to-ship transfer off Dubai, but Bloomberg News could not immediately identify the exact origin of the cargo.

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Sarv Shakti’s full transit of Hormuz could take about 10 to 14 hours. Electronic interference in the region can falsify the apparent position of a ship. Some ships may also spoof, or go dark, during transits, in order to hide their tracks.

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Dubai-based Foresight Group Services Ltd. is listed as the carrier’s manager, with its owner Zhe Yin Shan Zhou No. 4 Tianjin that shares the same address, on database Equasis. Foresight Group did not immediately respond to a query submitted via its website.

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