Mid-East oil producers continue exporting on tankers traveling with their transponders switched off: report

Middle East producers continue exporting oil on tankers traveling with their transponders switched off, even as visible traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has dwindled sharply, Reuters reported.

This suggests that visible ship-tracking data does not capture all traffic.

Industry trackers reported a dozen commodity vessels transited the Strait of Hormuz over the weekend, down from 35 the previous weekend, according to Kpler data.

Kpler tracks ships using transponder and satellite information.

On Monday (Sept. 21, 2026) Reuters reported that only 17 commodity vessels transited the Strait of Hormuz over the weekend, down from 37 the previous weekend and dramatically below the pre-war average of about 125 vessels a day.

Kpler data showed four trackable vessels exited the strait Sunday (Sept. 20), including two tankers carrying refined oil products, while two small oil tankers entered the Arabian Gulf.

On Saturday (Sept/ 19), five vessels left the Gulf carrying agricultural products, liquefied petroleum gas and fertiliser, while an empty very large gas carrier entered.

Critics say Kpler data is "skewed", and say the real moves are all "off-chain", as dozens of ships transit with automatic identification system (AIS) off using the southern route, near Oman.

Oil exports from the Gulf continue on tankers travelling with AIS switched off, which also makes ship-to-ship transfers invisible to current trackers.

The same Reuters report gives a particularly useful example: the VLCC Pinios was reported transferring about 2 million barrels of Iraqi crude off Fujairah — outside the Gulf — to another VLCC, the New Constant, which was headed for China.

Reuters also reported that 22 tankers carrying about 42 million barrels exited Hormuz during the week of September 13, with Saudi Arabia accounting for roughly half and Iraq about 35%.