U.S. troops are helping move millions of barrels of oil through the Strait of Hormuz under cover of darkness, sometimes escorting more than 20 ships a night out of the vital waterway, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said on Friday.
Burgum told CNBC on Friday that the mines have now been cleared, a move that has resulted in “more than 20 ships on some nights.”
Burgum added that some very large tankers were holding 2 million barrels of crude oil, which meant “a lot of oil was flowing out of the strait.”
Burgum’s comments provide the most detailed description yet of a covert operation that has trapped oil tankers and other commercial ships since the United States and Israel launched attacks on Iran in late February.
The effective closure of the waterway, which previously provided access to about a fifth of the world’s crude oil flows, prevented millions of barrels of crude from entering the market every day and sent global oil and fuel prices soaring.
President Donald Trump said on Wednesday the effort would help curb crude costs and claimed in a social media post that more than 200 commercial ships and 100 million barrels of oil had safely left the Strait of Hormuz under a “secret mission.” Trump separately told reporters on Wednesday that the United States had taken 22 ships out of the strait “late at night, without lights” to avoid detection.
U.S. oil benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude futures were trading at $85.48 a barrel on Friday, with prices falling on optimism that a peace deal between the U.S. and Iran is imminent.
Non-Iranian oil flows through the strait have surged by about 50% so far this month, despite a U.S.-imposed blockade that has hampered shipments of Iranian crude. Shippers have adopted tactics such as so-called “dark shipping,” using transponders to navigate waterways and turning off tracking signals to avoid detection.
According to Vortexa Ltd, at least 1.8 million barrels of oil per day left the Persian Gulf in the first 10 days of June.
Burgum said oil markets have responded to a resurgence in crude flows. “I think the market realized this before some of the tabloids did, because you started to see oil prices soften,” he said.
Photo: On July 20, 2019, the Iranian oil tanker Grace 1 was anchored in the Strait of Gibraltar; Photo credit: Marcelo del Pozo/Bloomberg
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