Muscat, Oman – US Energy Secretary Chris Wright revealed on Monday that the seven-day moving average of secret oil shipments escorted by the US Navy through the Strait of Hormuz has risen. This indicates that this trend is likely to continue rising, according to Reuters.
Increased oil shipments through the strait
Wright said during a press conference on the sidelines of a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency that the general trend of the seven-day moving average is rising. He also stated that he expects this increase to continue in the coming period.
He explained that the previous highest level of shipments, which reached 17 million barrels in one day and was announced on September 1, was actually higher than that. After it turned out that there was a ship that was not included in the previous calculations, the quantity that day reached about 18 million barrels.
Decline in commercial shipping traffic
In contrast, preliminary ship tracking data showed that the number of cargo ships crossing the Strait of Hormuz fell to single digits daily at the start of the week. This compares to an average of 14 ships over the previous ten days.
The data indicated that four ships left the Gulf via the strait, including a Suezmax oil tanker. Moreover, 10 ships entered the Gulf, including ships loaded with grain, minerals and bulk cargo shipments.
Impact of restrictions on oil exports
Tracking data excludes ships that may have crossed the strait with their Automatic Identification System (AIS) transponders switched off to avoid detection of their movements.
Before the outbreak of war with Iran on February 28, about 125 large commercial vessels, including oil and gas tankers, container ships and bulk cargo ships, passed through the Strait of Hormuz daily. The strait accounts for about 20% of the world’s daily supply of crude oil and liquefied natural gas.
This coincided with the halt in Iranian crude oil exports since the reimposition of the US embargo on shipping linked to Iran in mid-July.
In the Bab al-Mandab Strait, tracking data recorded the passage of 24 cargo ships on Saturday and 27 ships on Sunday. This compares to an average of about 27 ships during the past ten days.
