BEIJING: Two Chinese supertankers carrying four million barrels of Middle East crude oil exited the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday after remaining in the Gulf for more than two months, according to shipping data from LSEG and Kpler.
The vessels were among a small number of supertankers transporting Iraqi crude that left the Gulf this month using a transit route ordered by Iran.
Data showed the Chinese-flagged Very Large Crude Carrier Yuan Gui Yang loaded two million barrels of Iraqi Basrah crude on Feb 27, a day before the US-Israeli war on Iran began.
The vessel, chartered by Unipec, the trading arm of Asia’s largest refiner Sinopec, is expected to arrive at Shuidong Port near Maoming city in southern Guangdong province on June 4 to discharge its cargo.
Hong Kong-flagged VLCC Ocean Lily loaded one million barrels each of Qatari al-Shaheen and Iraqi Basrah crude between late February and early March, the data showed.
Ocean Lily, owned by Chinese major Sinochem, is expected to arrive at Quanzhou Port in eastern Fujian province on June 5 to unload its cargo.
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Sinopec, Sinochem and Cosco Shipping, which own and manage Yuan Gui Yang, did not immediately respond to requests for comment, while VLCC Yuan Hua Hu last week exited the strait carrying two million barrels of Iraqi oil bound for Zhoushan Port in eastern China.
