U.S. Energy Secretary: Persian Gulf Oil Exports Exceed Prewar Levels

[Financial News]  

U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright said on the 2nd (local time) that crude oil exports from the Persian Gulf region were actually higher than before the war with Iran. He also claimed that oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz had nearly returned to prewar levels.
In an interview with CNBC in Venezuela that day, Chris Wright said more than 17 million barrels of oil had been transported through the strait on the 31st of last month. Before the war with Iran began on February 28, daily shipments of crude oil and petroleum products stood at about 20 million barrels, he said. He added that exports had surpassed prewar levels when volumes shipped by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) through overland pipelines to bypass the Strait of Hormuz were included.
He claimed that the U.S. military’s assistance in guiding tankers through the Strait of Hormuz was weakening Iran’s ability to “hold the global economy hostage.” Iran, he added, “is causing some disruption, but it is losing that card.”
Oil export data released by the U.S. government for shipments through the Strait of Hormuz show higher volumes than those reported by independent vessel-tracking companies. Chris Wright emphasized that U.S. military and Department of Energy data were more accurate than private-sector data, saying the latter could not capture covert shipments.
The U.S. military has established a passage allowing ships to transit the Strait of Hormuz along the Omani coast rather than the Iranian coast. However, the strait is so narrow that the route cannot completely prevent Iranian attacks. As a result, ships using the passage turn off their radios and travel covertly at night to reduce the risk of attack.
“Whether Iran is there or not, oil and gas will continue to flow out of the Arabian Gulf region,” Chris Wright said. “That is happening right now.”
Despite these claims, two tankers were struck in the Strait of Hormuz on the 31st of last month. One of them was identified as the Senegal Prosperity, a so-called subchartered vessel that Janggeum Maritime had chartered and then leased to another party.


[email protected] Song Kyung-jae Reporter