Commodities
US Claims Middle East Oil Flows Rebound, But Tracking Services Disagree
US Energy Secretary Chris Wright announced that oil flows from the Middle East and Gulf region have rebounded to approximately 15 million barrels per day, according to August 12 data.
This figure breaks down into roughly 9 million bpd transiting the Strait of Hormuz and an additional 5 to 7 million bpd flowing through upgraded pipelines and alternative export facilities.
The data gap is significant, as commercial vessel-tracking services estimate actual Hormuz transits at somewhere between 4 and 8 million bpd, far short of Wright's cited figure for the strait alone.
Rystad Energy previously estimated that regional shut-in crude production peaked at 11.7 million bpd during the most intense phase of hostilities.