Mercuria Lawyers Say Government Deals Got Oil Through Hormuz

(Bloomberg) — Mercuria Energy Group Ltd. has moved oil through the Strait of Hormuz through government-brokered deals, according to legal filings that shine a rare light on how commodity traders are navigating the closely watched waterway during the Iran war.

Mercuria has sued the Baltic Exchange in London over the world’s main oil tanker rate, which is based on the cost of hiring a giant supertanker from inside the Persian Gulf. Mercuria initially argued that transiting Hormuz was impossible without paying an illegal toll, and therefore that the exchange should have stopped publishing the so-called TD3C index, or calculated it based on other similar routes.

However, the trading house’s Chief Executive Officer Marco Dunand in April told a conference that Mercuria itself had managed to move ships out of the Persian Gulf. “There’s various ways to do it and I’d rather not comment on that,” he said, adding that more ships were transiting the strait than were shown by tracking data.

In a legal filing dated May 21, lawyers for Mercuria offered further insight into Hormuz transit, which has moved into the shadows since the war began. 

“Mercuria’s present understanding is that there were approximately 20-24 recorded VLCC transits of the Strait by non-Iranian ships from 1 March 2026 to 19 May 2026,” they wrote, referring to very large crude carriers. 

Over the same period, shiptracking data compiled by Bloomberg show 14 laden, non-Iranian VLCCs exiting the Persian Gulf.

Transits were either made with illegal toll payments or “have been limited, pre-cleared movements arranged on a government-to-government non-commercial basis (including two non-Mercuria managed ships with government ties, carrying Mercuria cargo),” the Mercuria lawyers said. 

Even though Mercuria concedes that some vessels have transited Hormuz without paying a toll to Iran, it nonetheless argues that such government-brokered deals do not qualify as fixtures on which TDC3 could be based as it is “intended to measure fixtures for lawful VLCC transits on commercial terms.”

Mercuria also believes that these transits have not been on the standard TD3C route from Saudi Arabia’s Ras Tanura port, inside the Persian Gulf, to Ningbo in China, but instead “have discharged in Fujairah (in the Gulf of Oman), Oman, India or Singapore/Malaysia, waited over a month before transit, and/or completed a ship-to-ship transfer outside the Strait.”

It’s possible that a court in London may ultimately have to decide exactly how closed the Strait of Hormuz is. Mercuria has argued that the artificially high rate of the TD3C index is causing it “hundreds of millions” of dollars of losses. 

Since the war started, the TD3C rate has soared, rising to as much as $600,000 a day compared with more typical rates between $40,000 and $100,000.

The Baltic Exchange clarified in mid-March that the TD3C rate must continue to be calculated on the basis of shipping from Ras Tanura rather than using rates from Middle Eastern ports outside the gulf, where shipping has continued. It carried out a market consultation in April, finding that 55% of respondents opposed any changes.

The spat led to Mercuria writing to UK’s Financial Conduct Authority last month to inform it “of potential breaches” of certain benchmark regulations. 

The Baltic Exchange has been in contact with the FCA since March this year, its lawyers said in court filings.

“The Defendant rejects any suggestion that it is in breach of its regulatory obligations,” a lawyer acting for the Baltic Exchange said in a witness statement. “However, insofar as a breach is alleged, the proper avenue for any grievance concerning the administration of the TD3C benchmark is a complaint to the FCA, rather than a civil claim in the High Court.”

© 2026 Bloomberg L.P.

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This article contains reporting from Bloomberg, published under license.

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