A Japanese LNG carrier belonging to Mitsui OSK Lines has become the first LNG vessel to pass through the Strait of Hormuz since the conflict erupted in the Middle East, The Japan Times reported on April 3.

The tanker, named Sohar LNG is jointly owned by Mitsui and Asyad Shipping and registered in Panama. It was built in 2001 and possesses a 72,000-deadweight tonnage. Satellite imagery showed the LNG tanker transiting the strait between two Omani crude oil vessels.

However, according to Bloomberg, the vessel appears to not be loaded with an LNG cargo. The tanker had been circling around the Persian Gulf for more than a month following the outbreak of the conflict between Israel, the US, and Iran.

The tanker has changed course to the Qalhat LNG export terminal on Oman’s eastern coast. The three vessels took an usual path through the strait differing from the typical shipping route with Iran establishing a new route that circumnavigates around Larak Island.

The Strait of Hormuz is considered the world’s most important maritime chokepoint with about 20% of global LNG supply transiting through the strait coming from the world’s second-biggest LNG exporter Qatar, as well as supply coming from the United Arab Emirates.

Prior to the outbreak of the conflict on February 28, an average of around 3,000 vessels would pass through the strait monthly.

Japan, the world’s second biggest LNG importer behind only China, buys around 90% of its energy supplies from companies in the Gulf.

In mid-March Tehran hinted that it may allow vessels from neutral or friendly countries to pass through the strait safely, as Iran began the process of introducing a selective blockade.

“We have not closed the strait. In our opinion, the strait is open. It is closed only to ships belonging to our enemies, countries that attack us. For other countries, ships can pass through the strait,” Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s Foreign Minister told Japan’s Kyodo News on March 20.