Hormuz September oil flow hits 12.5M+ bpd
Shafaq News- Hormuz
Middle East oil exports rose to about 12.8 million barrels per day (bpd) in September as tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz picked up, reaching their highest level since the US-Israeli war with Iran began on February 28, ship-tracking firm Kpler said on Monday.
Crude shipments from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, and Iran remain about 6 million bpd below their February level of 18.8 million bpd.
Oil flows through the waterway are also recovering, with exports on track to reach about 7.4 million bpd in September. Saudi Arabia has seen the sharpest increase, with its crude exports reaching about 5.4 million bpd in September, up from 2.446 million bpd in August.
At Saudi Arabia’s Ras Tanura port, shipments climbed to about 3.6 million bpd in September, from 929,000 bpd in August. That remained below the 6.411 million bpd recorded in February.
Nineteen very large crude carriers passed through the Strait of Hormuz last week, each carrying about 2 million barrels of Saudi crude, according to Kpler data.
Before the Iran war began, the gateway typically handled about 125 large commercial vessels a day, including tankers, gas carriers, bulkers, and container vessels, accounting for about 20% of the world’s daily crude oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply.
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