Saudi Bahri Stations 16 VLCCs Off Oman as 150-Vessel Shadow Network Routes 4 Million Barrels Daily Around Hormuz

Saudi Arabia's Bahri shipping company has positioned 16 Very Large Crude Carriers off the Omani coast, part of a 150-vessel shadow bypass fleet that Gulf states use to route oil around the Strait of Hormuz. The armada has grown from approximately 40 vessels in January 2026, a near-fourfold expansion in eight months. Gulf producers including Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Iraq collectively move more than 4 million barrels per day through this network of AIS-dark tankers and offshore ship-to-ship transfers, per Reuters satellite and vessel-tracking analysis.

Bahri, Saudi Aramco, and the VLCC Positioning

Bahri, Saudi Arabia's national shipping carrier in which Saudi Aramco holds a significant stake, operates some of the largest crude tankers afloat. Three additional Bahri VLCCs are reportedly inbound to the Oman staging area, which would bring the carrier's local concentration to 19 vessels. Saudi Aramco's East-West Pipeline, a separate Hormuz bypass route with up to 5 million barrels per day of nameplate capacity running from eastern Saudi fields to Yanbu on the Red Sea, operates in parallel with the tanker staging operation. The combination of a strategic pipeline and a positioned VLCC fleet gives Riyadh more bypass redundancy than any other Gulf producer.

How the Shadow Network Operates

Tankers make repeated transits through Hormuz with their Automatic Identification System transponders switched off, then rendezvous with receiving vessels at offshore transfer sites near Fujairah and Sohar in Oman. Reuters identified at least 116 vessels involved in the operation as of mid-June, with satellite imagery showing as many as 17 simultaneous transfers at those sites. The UAE's Abu Dhabi Crude Oil Pipeline (ADCOP), a 1.5-million-barrel-per-day link from Habshan to the Fujairah terminal, provides a formal land route for Abu Dhabi crude that avoids the strait entirely. At full utilization, the shadow tanker network and the Fujairah pipeline together bypass approximately 5.5 million barrels per day, or roughly 26 percent of Hormuz's approximately 21 million barrels per day of total oil and petroleum products traffic.

TotalEnergies Backs Formal Pipeline Infrastructure

TotalEnergies announced backing for two pipeline infrastructure projects designed to route crude exports around the strait, per OilPrice.com reporting published Monday, adding a formal investment layer to what Gulf states have largely managed through informal vessel logistics. The French supermajor holds significant ADNOC offshore stakes in the UAE and operates under a multi-decade upstream agreement in Iraq, giving it direct exposure to crude volumes that currently have no formal bypass except the existing shadow network. Formalizing pipeline infrastructure converts an emergency logistics response into a durable structural bypass that would survive any diplomatic resolution of the current US-Iran standoff.

ADNOC Fleet Expansion Connects to the Bypass Architecture

Oil Authority reported in July that ADNOC Logistics and Services acquired 11 crude and gas carriers for $1.3 billion while its parent ADNOC documented 15 vessel attacks in the Hormuz zone. That fleet acquisition directly strengthens the UAE's ability to load ADCOP pipeline output at Fujairah and deliver it to buyers outside the strait without passing through Hormuz. The latest Bahri VLCC positioning and TotalEnergies pipeline endorsement suggest that supermajors and national oil companies are treating Hormuz bypass infrastructure as a capital priority rather than a contingency reserve.

What 26 Percent Bypass Capacity Means for Risk Pricing

Brent crude fell 2.83 percent to $89.56 per barrel on Tuesday, extending Monday's 2.4 percent loss as US-Iran diplomatic signals softened market anxiety over supply disruptions. The growth of combined formal and informal bypass infrastructure, capable of redirecting 26 percent of Hormuz throughput, means a full closure would be structurally less catastrophic than analysts estimated in 2019 or 2022. Analysts at Rystad Energy have noted that the shadow fleet's scale structurally reduces the Hormuz risk premium, placing a ceiling on how far oil prices can spike from strait disruptions alone. At 4 million barrels per day already rerouted through informal channels, a partial Hormuz closure could theoretically be absorbed without triggering a global supply shock of the magnitude previously modeled.