Iran exports 12 million barrels in five days on Chinese ‘ghost ships’ while attacking other ships in Hormuz

Although Donald Trump boasted of having destroyed more than 50 Iranian navy ships – 16 of them minelayer boats – Iran has carried out its threat against maritime traffic of oil, gas and other materials in the area. Four freighters have been attacked throughout Wednesday, ending hopes of containing the price fluctuation of crude oil.

The regime was exultant, predicting that the barrel would reach “200 dollars” and that “not a drop of oil” would pass through the Hormuz route. The reality would be even more favorable for Iran: the ayatollah regime would continue to export oil at a good rate to via ‘ghost’ Chinese freighters in the face of the passivity of the US and its allies.

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard has claimed responsibility for two of the attacks. The first was against Mayuree Nareeunder the Thai flag and with 23 crew members on board. He was about 11 nautical miles north of Oman when he was shot for allegedly “ignoring warnings.” The impact caused a fire on board and the shipping company, Precious Shipping Public, ordered an evacuation.

The second has been the Express Romeflying the Liberian flag but Israeli owned. Tehran has welcomed the blow to the “Zionist regime” that has immobilized this ship, and has stressed that “American aggressors and their partners have no right to transit” through Hormuz. Anyone who does so, they warn, will be a “legitimate target.”

The third ship attacked was the bulk carrier Star Gwynethreached about 50 nautical miles northwest of Dubai. It flies the flag of the Marshall Islands but belongs to the Greek shipping company Star Bulk Carriers. And the fourth, the Japanese container ship One Majesty25 nautical miles northwest of Ras Al Khaimah (United Arab Emirates).

The US Central Command (Centcom) claims to have reduced Iran’s ability to launch missiles by 90%, and by more than 80% that of attacking with drones. But Hormuz, through which 20% of the world’s hydrocarbon traffic passes, remains dangerous for Western merchants, whose requests for military escort go unheeded.

The ‘ghost fleet’ that escapes the radar

The ‘ghost fleet’ concept existed before the war; In fact, the oil tankers that have allowed Iran to continue exporting to China were already in Hormuz when the conflict began. The reason is simple: it is a opaque fleet specialized in trading with countries under embargo or sanctions without the final recipient being able to be identified.

Both China and Russia have these fleets of ships aging but still operationalwhich mainly includes flags from African countries. Consultants specializing in maritime traffic like Kpler They estimate that Chinese ‘ghost tankers’ have departed with an average of two million barrels of Iranian oil per day in the last six days.

Iran, therefore, would have exported more than twelve million barrels of oil in the middle of war. An amount that equals, if not better, its usual sales to China, pick up the Wall Street Journal. At least 15 of these ‘ghost tankers’ would have refueled in the Kharg islandthe nerve center of Iranian crude oil in the Persian Gulf, and crossed the Strait of Hormuz.

Ghost traffic would be achieved in two ways. First, they disconnect the transpondedores so as to disappear from view of the satellites. They then contact Iranian naval bases by radio to identify themselves as “Chinese tankers.” Sometimes they do it with megaphones. It is rudimentary and risky: on two occasions, Kpler explains, they have been attacked.

Subsequently, this stealth fleet will go to ports in Southeast Asia or Africaor you will find on the high seas with the legitimate oil workers of the country they work for. There the crude oil transfer that will allow it to be brought to port. Although shipping companies that work with ghost ships are subject to international sanctions, the business is profitable.

Gulf countries are getting impatient

Besieged by Iranian retaliatory attacks and with their maritime traffic stranded, the countries of the Persian Gulf are beginning to show signs of irritation with Washington’s strategy. More than 40,000 flights in the area have been suspended in the biggest blow to business and tourism since the Covid-19 pandemic.

The slowdown in exports is now comparable to the oil crisis of the 1970s. Saudi Arabia, for example, has reduced its daily quota to 9.8 million barrels of crude oil daily. In February, it produced 10.9. It has had to close the refinery Ras Tanura and boost traffic from the port of Yanbu, with access to the Red Sea.

In Abu Dhabi, the state-owned company ADNOC has been forced to close the Ruwais refinery after a drone attack. Kuwait has ceased production, as has Bahrainand extraction in southern Iraq has fallen by 70%, from 4.3 million barrels per day to only 1.3. And Qatar has seen its production of Liquefied Natural Gaswhich represents 20% worldwide.

“For decades, relations between Washington and the Gulf countries have been based on a tacit agreement: they made million-dollar investments in American weapons, technology and products in exchange for protection,” he explains. Fawaz Gerges, professor at the London School of Economics, told the agency Reuters.

This war, in which they have been the main victims of Israeli retaliation, has changed this vision of the world. “The Gulf states are going to have to accelerate their efforts to diversify their security and foreign trade agreements. They have realized that They cannot count on the United States to protect their energy, their oil, their gas, their people and their sovereignty“concludes Gerges.