Tanker Data Shows Millions Fewer Barrels A Day Crossing Hormuz Than Energy Secretary Says

Tanker-tracking data shows a smaller recovery in oil flowing through the Strait of Hormuz than Energy Secretary Chris Wright described Monday.

Speaking by video to an international energy conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Wright said oil moving through the strait was back to 80 to 90 percent of its prewar level, or 13 million to 14 million barrels per day, Asharq Al-Awsat reported. He said shipments of refined fuels such as diesel, jet fuel and gasoline out of the Gulf were still only 25 to 35 percent of prewar levels.

“Energy statistics can be difficult to collect and therefore imprecise and subject to revision. As a result, sources sometimes disagree,” Kevin Book, managing director at ClearView Energy Partners, said in a statement to the Daily Caller News Foundation. “That said, we suspect the secretary has access to pretty good information.”

Crude crossing Hormuz averaged about 10.3 million barrels per day in the week ended Oct. 3, roughly 23 percent below Kpler’s prewar figure of 13.5 million barrels per day, CNBC reported, citing the tanker-tracking firm’s data. Windward, another tracking firm, put the flow at 9 million to 10 million barrels per day, compared with 14.5 million before the war, according to the outlet.

In August, Wright wrote on X that the seven-day average for oil leaving the strait was “almost 9 million barrels per day.” He added that pipelines and export facilities were moving another 5 million to 7 million barrels per day out of the region, for a total of about 15 million.

The Department of Energy did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.

“NCEA [National Center for Energy Analytics] has followed Gulf crude oil and product liftings since the advent of the crisis,” Matthew McManus, a senior fellow at the center and a former State Department official, said in a statement to the DCNF. “Redundant pipelines in Saudi Arabia, the UAE [United Arab Emirates] and to a lesser extent Iraq have all put substantial volumes of, predominately crude oil, on the market.”

“These flows, and the proportion of oil moved by pipeline and through the strait itself will fluctuate week to week but, historically to date, combined track with the ranges provided by Kpler and DOE [the Department of Energy],” McManus said.

Kpler counted at least 16.5 million barrels per day of crude leaving the Gulf region from Sept. 1 to Sept. 28, matching the region’s prewar average without Iran, which is under a U.S. blockade.