By Mohi Narayan
NEW DELHI, Aug 26 (Reuters) – Five commodity vessels transited the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, little changed from a day earlier but well below the 10-day average of 15, preliminary shipping data showed on Wednesday.
Two tankers carrying liquefied petroleum gas and one tanker carrying bitumen exited the Gulf via the strait, while two empty product tankers entered the waterway from the Gulf of Oman, initial data from shiptracker Kpler showed at 0408 GMT. On Monday, four commodity vessels transited the waterway, the data showed.
The figures could change as some ships typically switch off their location transponders during the voyage.
Transits through the Bab el-Mandeb, another major maritime chokepoint in the Middle East, were also roughly little changed at 31 commodity vessels versus 29 the day before, Kpler data showed, but in line with the 10-day average.
Iran said it had resumed discussions with Oman on managing the Strait of Hormuz amid increased economic pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump.
The two sides said on Tuesday they had explored creating a temporary joint shipping corridor and agreed to remove mines from the waterway.
“Any agreement between these two parties does not mean we will see normalisation in oil flows through the key chokepoint,” ING Economics said in a note.
“We would likely need to see the U.S. lift its blockade on Iranian ports and ease sanctions on Iran before we see any move towards normalisation.”
(Reporting by Mohi Narayan; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Christian Schmollinger)
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