PARIS: A French-flagged LNG tanker left the Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, a tracking platform said, as an agreement to end the US-Iran war paved the way for the key passage's reopening.
The liquefied natural gas vessel (LNG) the Mraikh, owned by the Nantes-based subsidiary of Norwegian company Knutsen OAS Shipping, was the first such French vessel to make the transit since the start of the Iran conflict on February 28.
It was carrying 76,535 tons of LNG, which it loaded in Ras Laffan, Qatar, and was bound for Port Qasim, Pakistan, according to the MarineTraffic platform operated by data firm Kpler, which tracks cargo ships.
The carrier began moving on Wednesday around 2000 GMT (early Thursday morning, local time), according to the ship's AIS transponder signal published on MarineTraffic.
That was roughly at the time that it was announced US President Donald Trump had signed a memorandum of understanding in which Tehran committed to immediately reopening the strait.
Only 15 LNG carriers, including the Mraikh, have left the Gulf with a cargo since the start of the conflict, according to Kpler.
They were all carrying either Qatari LNG, like the Mraikh, or Emirati LNG.
"LNG operators have remained highly cautious about transiting the strait given the high value of the vessels and the relatively limited size of the global LNG fleet," Laura Page, an analyst at Kpler, told AFP in early May.
Traffic in the strait appeared to have accelerated on Thursday, with numerous ships seemingly transiting the waterway in both directions, according to AIS signals published on MarineTraffic.
At 1030 GMT (early afternoon local time), Kpler had already confirmed six transits by commodity transport vessels, roughly equal to the daily average of the previous seven days.