At least three Indian oil refiners and a global energy major plan to stop using vessels on Iran’s new blacklist, including for ship-to-ship transfers, due to security concerns, Reuters reported, citing four sources with direct knowledge of the matter.
Tehran announced on Sunday a blacklist of 45 ships it said had broken its rules for crossing the Strait of Hormuz, and would take action against any vessels transferring loads with them.
The named vessels could be fined, detained and have their cargoes confiscated, according to a post on social media website X from the Persian Gulf Strait Authority, a new body set up by Iran to manage the strait.
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— PGSA | نهاد مدیریت آبراه خلیج فارس (@PGSA_IRAN) August 23, 2026
Vessels violating Iranian protocols for the #Strait_of_Hormuz shall face restrictions on future passages, including fines, detention, or confiscation. https://t.co/B8BWeitpzh
“We will avoid our chartered vessels dealing or STS or anything to do with non-compliant ships for Middle Eastern cargoes,” said one of the sources, who works at an Indian refinery.
The sources declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue, according to Reuters.
Some of the tankers Iran listed are owned or chartered by Saudi Aramco and Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC). The ships have been used for shuttling crude, refined products and liquefied natural gas (LNG) out of the Gulf for STS transfer off Fujairah in the UAE or Sohar, Oman, according to shipping data.
Saudi Aramco and ADNOC declined to comment.
Ana Subasic, a trade risk analyst at shiptracking firm Kpler, said the most compliance-sensitive buyers are expected to avoid these vessels moving forward, but the trade is more likely to reroute through alternative tonnage, counterparties or transfer locations than disappear altogether.
Several charterers and shipping firms are discussing internally whether to continue their STS operations or not and are evaluating Iran’s warning, multiple other trade and shipping sources said, with one of them, a Gulf crude buyer, saying it would be safer to buy oil on a delivered basis shipped to a final destination instead of free-on-board at STS locations in the Gulf of Oman.
Those sources also declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter.
“Our internal departments are still in discussion on how to proceed with crude deliveries from the Strait of Hormuz via ship-to-ship transfers in the long term,” said Formosa Petrochemical Corp President KY Lin.
Source: Reuters (edited by Al-Manar)