Oman Waters' Secret Oil Routes: Ship-to-Ship Transfers Bypass Sanctions

Ship-to-ship oil transfers off the coast of Oman have surged 56 percent over the past month as Gulf producers circumvent the Strait of Hormuz blockade by transferring crude between vessels in international waters, satellite tracking data shows. TankerTrackers, a vessel-monitoring service, reported 7.15 million barrels per day being exchanged via ship-to-ship transfers in the 14 days leading to 18 September, up sharply from the previous month. The practice has become a lifeline for Saudi Arabia after Houthi missiles damaged the kingdom's 1,200-kilometre East-West pipeline in early 2026, shutting the route from its eastern oil fields to Yanbu port on the Red Sea coast.

Satellite imagery captured vessels transferring oil side by side off Sohar, Oman's deepwater industrial hub just outside the Strait of Hormuz, as early as 9 June. The United States military began assisting scores of these transfers in early May 2026, according to the report. Tankers typically switch off their Automatic Identification System trackers to avoid detection, then rendezvous with larger vessels at open-ocean anchorages off Sohar or Fujairah in the UAE. Cargo is pumped through connected hoses while pneumatic rubber fenders cushion the hulls against collision.

Rahul Choudhary, vice president for upstream research at Rystad Energy, said Hormuz-route exports in the first two weeks of September exceeded 2 million barrels per day, roughly 1 million barrels above August levels, and that Saudi Aramco was offering additional loadings to Asian refiners out of Sohar. Rishi Rajanala, a research specialist at LSEG Data and Analytics, said the pipeline closure left Riyadh with little choice but to ship more crude from Gulf terminals through the strait, including ship-to-ship transfers at locations like Sohar. Kuwait and Qatar have also been identified as relying on similar tactics at times, according to the monitoring data.

The practice carries significant risk. Oscar Seikaly, chief executive of NSI Insurance Group, said ship-to-ship transfers are "particularly complicated" for insurers, involving pollution and collision liabilities, cargo insurance, and war-risk cover. He noted that most oil being moved belongs to national oil companies, which rely on sovereign-backed self-insurance arrangements, and that commercial underwriters are unlikely to provide broad cover during wartime disruptions. Unregulated transfers often involve aging vessels with poor hull maintenance, uninspected hoses, and switched-off tracking. Iranian authorities have attacked ships using unauthorised routes closer to Omani waters. The resulting cargo — loaded on whatever tankers Gulf producers can find willing to enter the strait — reaches refiners in China, India, South Korea, Japan and beyond, but at volumes that remain well below pre-war levels, constrained by tanker availability, insurance costs, and the inherent inefficiency of ship-to-ship transfer.