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The U.S. military has overseen scores of secretive ship-to-ship oil transfers near the Strait of Hormuz to keep Gulf energy exports moving, using a method long employed by Iran to evade sanctions, Reuters reported.
The operation began in early May and has involved at least 92 vessels, according to shipping data, satellite imagery and 11 people familiar with the effort.
Oil is transferred at two locations near the strait’s exit in the Gulf of Oman: one off Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates and another near Oman’s port of Sohar.
Satellite images reviewed by Reuters showed 17 pairs of vessels conducting simultaneous transfers at the two sites as recently as June 11.
At least 90 million barrels of crude oil and petroleum products may have moved through the offshore network since early May, based on the carrying capacity of tankers identified in the imagery.
The volumes remain small compared with the roughly 20 million barrels that passed through the Strait of Hormuz each day before the war.
Eight sources, including a private security contractor involved in the transfers, said the U.S. military controls the operation.
Tankers first sail to a meeting point before reaching the strait and then stagger their departures to remain about 3,000 to 4,000 meters apart.
Their transponders are switched off and their lights are dimmed, according to four sources.
A series of waypoints allows the U.S. military to track the tankers as they travel through the waterway.
After passing through the strait, just beyond an area Iran has declared under its control, the vessels pull alongside receiving ships known as Very Large Crude Carriers, or VLCCs.
The oil transfers take between 24 and 40 hours.
Once the operation is completed, the empty shuttle tankers return through the strait, while the loaded VLCCs continue toward international markets.
Six sources said the U.S. supports participating vessels through aerial surveillance, compliance screening and monitoring rather than direct naval escorts.
Reuters found no indication that American military personnel physically took part in the transfers.
A U.S. defense official denied that Central Command forces were participating in an offshore ship-to-ship oil transfer operation.
The mission has involved aerial and maritime drones as well as helicopters to guide convoys toward waiting tankers.
An Apache helicopter shot down by Iran on June 9 was involved in the operation, four sources said, including a former U.S. official with knowledge of the incident.
Reuters could not determine the helicopter’s precise role.
Satellite imagery showed six pairs of tankers gathered off Sohar on the day the Apache was downed. Both crew members were rescued by a drone boat, U.S. officials said. The incident triggered U.S. retaliatory strikes.
The transfer sites are located close to boundaries established by the Persian Gulf Strait Authority, a new Iranian body created to administer the Strait of Hormuz.
Ships that fail to follow Iranian instructions risk attacks by Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) drones and missiles.
Fujairah has also faced repeated Iranian strikes while the U.S.-led operation has been underway.
The British maritime risk company Vanguard said an unidentified projectile struck a tanker off Oman over the weekend. The crew was safe, and the impact caused some cargo leakage but no environmental damage, Vanguard said.
The company did not say whether the vessel was involved in the transfer operation.
Iran has used ship-to-ship transfers for years to conceal the origin of oil and bypass sanctions.
Iranian operators generally transfer oil between one pair of ships at a time, both to avoid detection and because the country’s pre-war exports were smaller.
The U.S.-led system involves multiple simultaneous transfers intended to give Gulf producers greater protection from Iranian retaliation while moving crude oil, condensate and petroleum products to buyers.
“As the old rules weaken, it’s ironic that the United States is now taking a page out of the playbook of China, Russia, North Korea, and even Iran,” Council on Foreign Relations President Michael Froman wrote in a note Friday.
He referred to the use of ships operating without transponders, a method associated with so-called dark fleets used to avoid U.S. and U.N. sanctions.
The system depends on shipping companies willing to send vessels through the strait despite the blockade.
“You just don’t know when Iran might just decide to start using drones or even gunboats to prevent even those ships from transiting the strait,” said Noam Raydan, a maritime risk specialist at the Washington Institute.
Shipping industry officials warned that the operation creates serious collision risks.
Ships travel at night with their lights and transponders switched off, limiting available information about their positions. “There is a paucity of reliable data,” a maritime security source said.
Companies participating in the operation are also not reporting through the usual maritime centers, the source added.
The tankers travel at speeds that make rapid maneuvering difficult, according to several shipping officials.
Operators seeking access must complete a U.S. compliance review before receiving assigned transit windows.
Preliminary documents reviewed by Reuters required applicants to provide full geospatial tracking records, cargo documents, beneficial ownership information and consent to possible cargo testing.
Approved vessels remain in contact with the U.S. Navy’s Naval Cooperation and Guidance for Shipping office in Bahrain throughout the journey.
Shipping records indicated that Emirati exports accounted for a substantial part of the transfer network.
Six sources said the UAE’s state-owned oil company ADNOC was among the most active participants. The Kuwait Oil Tanker Company also took part in the transfers.
About 2.3 million barrels of crude were transferred from one of its vessels off Sohar on June 6, according to TankerTrackers.com data.
The receiving tanker, Sea Ruby, was seen five days later off India’s southwestern coast and was traveling toward China, where the oil was expected to be unloaded.
The UAE government, ADNOC and the Kuwait Oil Tanker Company did not respond to requests for comment.
Greece-based Dynacom Tankers Management was among the international operators involved on the receiving side, according to shipping records.
Dynacom founder George Procopiou said at a shipping conference in Athens on June 1 that freedom of navigation was essential and that no country could impose tolls or other restrictions.
“We are here to serve, and Greece has the tradition of breaking blockades since antiquity,” he said, without directly discussing the operation.
Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz after the U.S. and Israel launched the war on Feb. 28.
The closure disrupted the route normally used for about one-fifth of global oil consumption and contributed to rising inflation worldwide.
The ship-to-ship network appears to be part of the Trump administration’s effort to restore Gulf oil exports.
U.S. President Donald Trump said the strait would reopen Friday under a framework peace agreement with Iran announced this week, although details remained unclear.
Reuters could not determine whether the agreement had changed the transfer operation.
A previous Reuters investigation found that Iran had established its own system for allowing vessels through the other side of the strait using island checkpoints, diplomatic agreements and, in some cases, fees.
Raydan described the U.S.-supported system as an emergency measure rather than a lasting answer.
“I don’t see a permanent solution in all of this,” she said. “This is a temporary solution amid exceptional times.”
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