Asia's Oil Imports Fail to Rebound Amid Claims of Hormuz Surge

The U.S. Administration recently claimed that oil exports from the Middle East have rebounded to near-pre-war levels, with some days exceeding 20 million barrels per day (bpd). However, data compiled by commodity analysts Kpler suggests otherwise.

According to Kpler's figures, Asia is expected to import roughly the same volumes of crude oil this month as it did in July - 23.12 million bpd, which is slightly down from 23.36 million bpd in July.

This represents a still-weak level of imports compared to pre-war averages, with Asia's imports from the Middle East inched up to 11.11 million bpd in August from 10.76 million bpd in July, but remaining over 4 million bpd lower than the average of 15.82 million bpd in the three months before the Iran war started.

The U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said that oil exports from the Middle East have rebounded to 15 million bpd and even topped the pre-war average on some days, but ship-tracking data shows oil flows out of the Strait of Hormuz are, at best, half this volume.