Hormuz traffic slows to a trickle as full reopening remains uncertain

Iraq’s state oil marketer SOMO offered discounts of close to $30 a barrel for Basrah Heavy and Basrah Medium crude to customers for August loading.

Typically, about 130 to 140 ships would transit the strait before Iran closed the waterway after the US-Israeli war began on February 28.

A proposed deal between Iran and Oman to give Tehran control over ships entering the Persian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz is not easily workable because of US sanctions and restrictive insurance clauses on payments, industry sources said.

On Thursday, 26 vessels transited the Bab el-Mandeb strait on the Red Sea, up from 19 a day before, Kpler data showed. LSEG counted 28 vessels, using a different tracking system and methodology.

(Reporting by Siyi Liu in Singapore; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)