Even as New Delhi is in talks with Iran to secure safe passage for oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, two tankers carrying around 3 million barrels of Iraqi and Arab crude bound for India crossed the sea passage between March 5 and March 10 with their transponders switched off.
“External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Foreign Minister of Iran Seyed Abbas Araghchi have had three conversations in the last few days. The last one discussed issues pertaining to safety of shipping and India’s energy security. Beyond that, it would be premature for me to say anything,” Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson for the ministry of external affairs, said on Thursday.
Rise of Stealth Shipping
“Some India-bound tankers carrying a combined 3 million barrels of Iraqi and Arab crude have transited the Strait between March 5 and March 10 with their transponders off,” said Nikhil Dubey, senior refining analyst at Kpler, pointing to the growing use of stealth shipping practices as the conflict in the region disrupts maritime energy flows.
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Ship-tracking data from Kpler, shared exclusively with FE, show that one of the tankers loaded crude at Iraq’s Al-Basra oil terminal while the other sailed from Saudi Arabia’s east coast. The shipments come even as Gulf producers increasingly attempt to bypass the Strait of Hormuz.
Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest crude exporter, has stepped up loadings from its Red Sea port of Yanbu, using the kingdom’s cross-country East-West pipeline to reroute oil away from the strait.
“Saudi Arabia has increased crude loading from its west coast, using the East-West pipeline to bypass the Strait of Hormuz. While India-bound crude traditionally ships from the Kingdom’s east coast, Yanbu volumes are clearly picking up,” Dubey said.
Kpler data shows around 13 million barrels of crude from Saudi Arabia’s west coast are expected to reach India in March 2026, marking the first such shipments since at least September 2025, when volumes from Yanbu to India were zero. The data is subject to change as voyages become clearer, according to Kpler.
Essential Energy Lifeline
The logistical shift comes as global energy markets scramble to adjust to disruptions linked to the Iran conflict, which has raised security risks for shipping in the Gulf and forced exporters to reconfigure supply routes.
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Recent international reports indicate that supertankers have begun diverting towards Saudi Arabia’s Yanbu terminal, allowing crude shipments to continue through the Red Sea even if flows through the Strait of Hormuz face disruption.
Saudi Aramco has also asked Asian buyers to prepare for dual-loading plans from both Gulf terminals and Yanbu, reflecting contingency planning to ensure uninterrupted deliveries if the strait remains inaccessible.
The strategy relies heavily on the kingdom’s East-West pipeline, which can transport roughly 5 million barrels of crude per day from Saudi Arabia’s eastern oil fields to the Red Sea, enabling exports to bypass the Hormuz chokepoint during geopolitical disruptions.
India, the world’s third-largest crude importer, relies heavily on West Asian supplies, with a large share of shipments traditionally passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
TOPICSCrude oilThis article was first uploaded on March twelve, twenty twenty-six, at eleven minutes past ten in the night.