US Navy lifts Hormuz oil flow, says Energy Secretary Wright

Washington, Aug 22 (IANS) The US military helped move more than 15 million barrels of oil and petroleum products through the Strait of Hormuz, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said, offering the clearest administration estimate yet of increased traffic through the strategic waterway.

When oil transported through regional pipelines was included, the total volume leaving the Gulf region was closer to 20 million barrels, Wright said in a social media post.

The seven-day average of oil moving through the strait had risen above eight million barrels a day, he added.

“Make no mistake, thanks to the U.S. Navy, oil is flowing through the Strait of Hormuz,” Wright said.

His figures indicate a sharp improvement from the second quarter, when the Iran conflict and restrictions on commercial shipping reduced average Hormuz oil flows to 4.9 million barrels per day, according to the US Energy Information Administration.

Traffic, however, remains well below pre-conflict levels. About 21.6 million barrels per day moved through the strait in the final quarter of 2025, including crude oil, condensate and refined petroleum products.

Wright’s reference to 15 million barrels represented oil moved on Tuesday rather than the current daily average. His separate seven-day figure of more than eight million barrels a day provides a clearer indication of the sustained recovery in traffic.

According to United Against Nuclear Iran, which monitors shipping in the region, said the Joint Maritime Information Center recorded 71 “U.S. facilitated” transits during the 48-hour period covering August 18 and 19.

The group said 1,081 facilitated transits had been recorded since June 20. The daily rate increased from about 4.5 to 35.5 over the month ending August 19, according to its assessment of maritime traffic.

The US Navy has been assisting compliant commercial vessels navigating the southern shipping corridor, with some vessels limiting or switching off their automatic identification broadcasts because of security concerns.

The Trump administration has also maintained a blockade against ships travelling to or from Iranian ports and coastal areas. UANI said US forces had redirected 67 commercial vessels attempting to breach the blockade as of Thursday, disabled three vessels that did not comply and boarded two.

UANI described security conditions as highly volatile and said two vessels were attacked in separate incidents on August 18 after the expiration of an earlier memorandum of understanding.

One seafarer was killed, increasing the number of crew casualties reported during the conflict to 19, according to figures cited from the International Maritime Organization.

Marine traffic has also remained uneven. Before the conflict, about 138 vessels passed through the strait daily. A large number of commercial ships subsequently waited on either side of the passage because of attacks, insurance costs and uncertainty over safe transit.

A Congressional Research Service report described Hormuz as a central route for global oil and natural-gas supplies and warned that alternative pipelines could carry only a portion of the volumes normally shipped through it.

The EIA estimates that Saudi and Emirati pipelines together can bypass Hormuz with about 4.7 million barrels per day — far below the roughly 21 million barrels that previously moved through the strait each day.

–IANS

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