Tankers face fresh Hormuz threats

Tankers face fresh Hormuz threats
Sam Chambers August 3, 2026 https://splash247.com/tankers-face-fresh-hormuz-threats/

Merchant shipping remains exposed across the Middle East’s two principal maritime chokepoints, with fresh threats and explosions reported in the Strait of Hormuz even as Washington claims another round of peace negotiations with Iran is getting underway.

The latest incidents follow the reported attack on the Bermuda-flagged LNG carrier GasLog Shanghai off Oman overnight into Saturday. Missiles or other projectiles reportedly damaged its engine-room area, leaving the ship inoperable, although GasLog has not confirmed the incident. No casualties or pollution have been independently verified.

The risks did not ease over the weekend. Vanguard Tech reported on Monday that the Liberia-flagged tanker Egypt Prosperity received repeated threats over VHF while sailing eastbound through Hormuz, around 20 nautical miles northeast of Khasab, Oman, at 20:37 UTC on Sunday.

The callers claimed affiliation with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps navy and warned that the tanker would be attacked. Its master subsequently heard a loud explosion at a considerable distance off the starboard beam, altered course and headed towards Dubai’s outer port limits. The ship and crew were reported safe.

A second Liberia-flagged tanker, On Pride, reported warning shots from the north and an explosion about 1.5 nautical miles from its port quarter while inbound through Omani territorial waters. The master believed the unidentified projectile had been aimed at another vessel but could not confirm this.

The reports show Hormuz remains perilous despite renewed diplomacy, with traffic severely reduced and owners facing uncertain war-risk cover.

US president Donald Trump said negotiations with Iran would begin on Monday afternoon, although he named no venue, participants or deadline. Trump said he had called off a planned attack at the request of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE in the hope of securing the “Immediate, Complete and Total” reopening of Hormuz.

A proposal described by a regional official would see Iran reopen the strait and halt attacks in return for the US ending its naval blockade and permitting Iranian oil exports. Tehran disputes that any agreement has been reached.

Separate talks between Iran and Oman were said to be in their final stages, but Tehran described these as discussions over a new transit route rather than restoration of the pre-war passage regime.

At the other end of the region, the Houthis have issued a rare press release directly to Splash denying reports that ships are being charged to transit the Bab al-Mandab.

The Houthi-run Humanitarian Operations Coordination Center said it had neither taken nor considered a decision to impose tolls and insisted passage remained free.

It also said its Safe Transit Service was voluntary and free for ships outside the group’s declared ban, warning owners not to make payments or provide information to anyone claiming to collect fees on its behalf.

The statement does not amount to an assurance of unrestricted navigation. The Houthis continue to define classes of vessels as prohibited and exposed to attack.

The simultaneous disruption of Hormuz and Bab al-Mandab is forcing Gulf exporters to accelerate alternative routes, according to tanker broker Gibson.

Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Oman have emerged as the relative winners because they possess ports outside Hormuz, although none has sufficient bypass capacity to replace normal Gulf exports fully.

Saudi Arabia is considering expanding its East-West pipeline to the Red Sea by up to 2m barrels per day, with Kuwait discussing access for its crude. The bottleneck is increasingly at Yanbu, where port infrastructure must be improved before the pipeline’s nominal 7m barrels per day capacity can be realised. Crude loadings there recently averaged 4.65m barrels per day capacity, far above the previous record of 1.7m barrels per day capacity.

The UAE is developing a second pipeline to Fujairah that would double capacity to 3.6m bpd, potentially becoming operational later in 2027.

Iraq remains heavily exposed. Its route to Turkey has struggled to move much beyond 200,000 bpd since restarting in late 2025. Baghdad is considering projects linking Basrah with the Kirkuk-Ceyhan system, Aqaba and Syria’s Baniyas, but timelines remain uncertain.

A permanent shift of Emirati exports to Fujairah would trim tonne-mile demand only marginally, Gibson argued. Larger changes could come from Iraqi barrels moving west by pipeline rather than aboard VLCCs and suezmaxes.