30 Dark Tankers Off Qeshm on 14 August as Koh-e-Mubarak Evasion Hub Grows

Satellite imagery collected on 14 August caught roughly 30 AIS-dark tankers anchored in the northern corridor off Qeshm Island, Iran. Nearly all were stationary. Windward, in a report published 17 August, counted around 20 tankers at the adjacent Koh-e-Mubarak anchorage assessed as conducting sanctions evasion or tanker-to-tanker transfer activity, with eight OFAC-designated hulls confirmed.

One tanker at Koh-e-Mubarak was found broadcasting under a false identity. Vortexa separately reported possible floating storage of around 1.84 million barrels of crude aboard a tanker that had appeared in ballast.

The same day, a second ADNOC-affiliated tanker was struck by drones while transiting the Strait of Hormuz, the second such attack in under a week. The UAE condemned the strike. Shipping owners continued running dark transits regardless: Splash247 reports that risk-tolerant operators are moving tankers through Hormuz with AIS disabled before arranging tanker-to-tanker transfers off Oman. Around 150 tankers are now floating off Oman waiting for transfers, up from about 40 in January.

Transport Topics, citing satellite data from 10 August, counted 12 tanker-to-tanker oil transfers off Oman. Between 57 and 65 percent of Hormuz transits are estimated to have been running in dark mode. Dark periods now stretch from several hours to weeks at a time.

The 15 tankers holding in Koh-e-Mubarak's waiting area are estimated to carry 16.7 million barrels of floating crude storage. The one that has sat longest has been present since at least mid-May, pointing to a queue backlog of more than two months.

MarineRadar data for the last 48 hours shows three users tracking the Qeshm region.