Two large Chinese state-owned shipping companies have stopped dispatching their oil tankers from the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab el-Mandeb since late Tir.

According to a Reuters report, the decision was made following an intensification of security risks in two key energy corridors and after consultations with Chinese officials.

According to Reuters sources, instead of sending their giant tankers into the Persian Gulf, these companies position them outside areas considered high-risk in order to receive oil. Part of the cargo is loaded via ship-to-ship transfer in waters off Oman and the UAE, and then transported to China.

Since the start of the war, the Islamic Republic has said that vessels of “friendly countries,” including China, are allowed to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. China buys more than 90% of this government’s oil exports.