Crude Oil Prices Today: World's Largest Tanker Operator Cautions Against Hormuz Rush

With the U.S.-Iran deal recently announced, hopes have risen that the oil supply disruption in the Middle East could be nearing its end.

However, the largest international tanker operators aren't rushing to return to the Strait of Hormuz.

Jotaro Tamura, chief executive officer at Mitsui OSK Lines, the world's largest tanker operator, told the Financial Times that his company will wait until they see a 'material' agreement and safety guarantees before returning to the world's critical oil and gas chokepoint.

"Given the experiences in the last couple of months, I think it's reasonable to assume that it may take at least a couple of weeks or if not a month," Mitsui OSK Lines' Tamura told FT in an interview published on Tuesday.

"What will have to come in place is not just a simple agreement between the relevant countries, but it has to be material and translated into the real situations in the Strait of Hormuz, so that shipping lines can make themselves comfortable to go through," the executive added.

The U.S.-Iran deal and the potentially imminent reopening of the Strait of Hormuz do not mean that oil and gas trade will quickly return to its previous levels, tanker owners and energy analysts say.