Preliminary vessel tracking data from Kepler revealed that crude oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz reached 33.7 million barrels since the start of the current week, indicating stable export rates. The previous week recorded a total of 49.2 million
barrels departing the Strait. An anonymous U.S. official reported that the Strait saw approximately 60 commercial vessels of various sizes transit on Wednesday, carrying the largest daily oil volume since early July. This surge in activity follows Saudi Aramco's increased exports
via the Strait, after shipments from Yanbu port on the Red Sea halted due to East-West pipeline attacks. The movement involved 19 tankers, 17 of which were supertankers capable of carrying two million barrels each. Most carried crude oil from Saudi
Arabia, followed by shipments from Iraq. Conversely, Kepler's data showed a drop in cargo ships transiting the Strait on Thursday to nine vessels, down from fourteen the previous day. An unknown number of ships are suspected to sail with transponders off,
thus excluded from statistics. Of the nine, eight exited and one entered. The 10-day average for vessel transits is 18. Prior to the Iran war outbreak on February 28, the Strait typically saw about 125 large commercial vessels daily, including oil,
gas, bulk, and container ships, representing roughly 20% of global daily crude oil and liquefied natural gas supplies.
