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3 Oil, LNG Tankers Exit Strait of Hormuz Under Dark Transits, Reuters Analysis Shows

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Two oil supertankers and one liquefied natural gas tanker exited the Strait of Hormuz earlier this week, heading toward India and China with their transponders turned off, also known as dark transits, according to a Reuters report, citing ship tracking data from LSEG and Kpler.

Even as traffic through the Strait remained restricted, the vessels were part of several tankers that departed the Persian Gulf over this month.

The ongoing military conflict between the US and Iran, which began on February 28, has severely curtailed traffic through the strategically crucial Strait, which accounted for one-fifth of global LNG and crude oil flows.

Before the conflict, traffic through the Strait ranged from 125 to 140, and has since dropped to just four over the past 24 hours, according to the Hormuz Strait Monitor.

An estimated 20,000 seafarers, working on 100s of vessels, currently remain stuck in the Persian Gulf, as a result of this blockade, according to Reuters.

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