Oil Is Flowing Again Through a Key Middle East Waterway

Since the start of a war between the United States and Iran, a key shipping route called the Strait of Hormuz has been mostly blocked. Iran used its control of this narrow waterway to stop oil from reaching the rest of the world. The result was an energy crisis felt in countries as far away as the Philippines. But new data from September shows that oil is moving through the strait again.

Before the war, about 19 million barrels of crude oil left the Middle East every day. Most of it traveled through the Strait of Hormuz. When Iran closed the strait, that number dropped sharply, and countries around the world struggled to find enough oil.

Now, a company called Kpler that tracks oil tankers says about 16 million barrels a day are leaving the Middle East again. About 10 million of those barrels are moving through the Strait of Hormuz itself. The other 6 million travel by land pipelines or through ports that go around the strait.

Iran is still attacking ships in the strait nearly every day. But more tankers are willing to take the risk of crossing it anyway. The U.S. military has been offering air protection to tankers that try to cross, and oil-rich countries like Saudi Arabia are paying tanker operators up to ten times more money than before the war to make the dangerous trip.

Oil is moving again, but the cost is very high. The U.S. military is spending huge resources to protect those ships. Gulf nations are paying enormous fees to tanker operators. About two dozen crew members have also died in strikes over just the past month.

Even with more oil flowing, prices have not gone down much. High fees and costly insurance have kept shipping expensive. There still is not enough oil to meet world demand, and winter is coming — which means people will need even more heating fuel.

Iran's strategy seems to be keeping oil prices high enough to pressure the U.S. and other countries. Expert Hamidreza Azizi said Iran still has strong leverage. Its allies, the Houthis in Yemen, control another key route called the Bab al-Mandab Strait. Iran could also choose to attack oil facilities in the Gulf if it feels enough pressure to do so.

Last month, Iran offered a seven-day plan to stop fighting and reopen the strait. President Trump rejected the offer, which some see as a sign the U.S. thinks it is winning. But analysts warn that the military resources used to protect oil tankers cannot be kept up forever, and Iran's broader strategy of causing economic pain is still having an effect.