About 6-8 super oil tankers along with many smaller oil tankers were anchored in waters near Chabahar port in the Gulf of Oman last weekend, according to satellite images and analysis from the United Against Nuclear Iran organization and the maritime intelligence company Windward.
This is also the area where the US Navy announced that it had forced 2 large crude oil tankers to divert last week.
The concentration of oil tankers in Chabahar is evidence that Iran is still continuing to unload oil onto ships. This move also shows that the US blockade seems to be acting as an effective barrier to prevent crude oil from reaching consumers.
Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz is currently almost zero, and Tehran may soon have to start stopping production when there is no space to store oil.
According to estimates by energy data analysis company Vortexa, about 155 million barrels of Iranian crude oil are being transported or stored on the surface around the world.
The US has increased pressure on Iran by approaching oil tankers in the Indian Ocean as well as sanctioning a large oil refinery that is a buyer of Iranian oil.
It is not yet clear how many empty oil tankers Iran still has to store crude oil, but it seems that this country is bringing old ships back into operation.
Last week, Nasha - a 30-year-old large oil tanker (VLCC), capable of carrying up to 2 million barrels of crude oil, began signaling from the Persian Gulf. The last shipment of this ship took place 3 years ago.
The oil tanker Nasha signaled its closest location 4 days ago, indicating it was heading west towards Kharg Island, Iran's main oil export destination.
