Oil Exports from Middle East Remain Low Despite Claims of Recovery

The Middle East's oil exports have been under scrutiny since the Iran conflict began in February. Despite claims by US Energy Secretary Chris Wright that flows through the Strait of Hormuz are rising and total oil exports from the Middle East are nearly back to pre-conflict levels, data shows that Asia's import volumes remain well short.

Kpler, a commodity analyst firm, has tracked arrivals at Asian ports and found that crude imports in August were slightly down from July's 23.36 million barrels per day (bpd). This is still four million bpd below the average of 26.91 million bpd in the three months leading up to the conflict.

The firm also noted that India, a major-importing country close to the Middle East, saw its August crude imports drop to 4.51 million bpd, down from 5.07 million bpd in July and the lowest since March. This suggests that if there is a strong recovery in exports from the Middle East, they are not heading to India.

Kpler's data shows that while Asia's arrivals of crude from the Middle East have risen from April's 7.01 million bpd, which was the lowest on record, they are still down from the pre-conflict levels.