Premium"More Oil Is Leaving The Gulf Than Before The War": And Here Comes The Shocking Freight Bill
Iran is shooting at more tankers than ever. The tankers keep coming anyway.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Middle East oil flows averaged more than 24 million barrels a day in the week through Oct. 18, surpassing prewar levels, even as Tehran ramps up attacks on merchant shipping in and around the Strait of Hormuz. Bloomberg's Julian Lee puts the Kpler number for crude and condensate at 24.6 million b/d, a high for the conflict, while The National notes that Kpler's own baseline for the last prewar week (ending Feb 22) was 24.4 million b/d. In other words, more oil is now leaving the region than in the week before the first bombs fell, which is all the more remarkable given the complete loss of Iran's exports (close to 2 million b/d in February) under the US blockade.