LONDON: Oil exports from the Arabian Gulf have rebounded to exceed the levels from before the regional war started and despite a recent surge in Iranian attacks on shipping, US media reported.
The total amount of oil shipped out of the region in the week through Oct. 18 averaged more than 24 million barrels a day, compared to pre-war levels of 23.3 million, the Wall Street Journal reported using data from ship-tracking firm Kpler.
The figures include the increasing amounts shipped through the Strait of Hormuz and oil pumped overland through pipelines to the Red Sea and Gulf of Oman.
The figures exclude Iranian exports, which US officials say have been completely cut off by an American naval blockade.
After the US and Israel launched airstrikes on Iran on Feb. 28, Iran attempted to block the Strait of Hormuz, drastically reducing oil exports from the region and shaking the global economy.
About one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas supplies flowed through the narrow entrance channel to the Gulf before the conflict, along with crucial shipments of related products including refined fuels and fertilizer.
Gulf exporters have, however, managed to increase oil flows through the waterway in recent months thanks to a US protected shipping lane along the Omani coast.
A fleet of tankers has been shuttling back and forth through the strait and transferring their cargo to other ships in the Gulf of Oman for the less risky onward journeys to global customers.
Iran has responded by ramping up attacks on ships passing through Hormuz and elsewhere in the Gulf in an attempt to pressure the US through its allies in the region.
The Kpler data showed that oil flows through the strait alone are back to more than 80 percent of pre-war levels, at about 14 million barrels a day.
Alternative routes that bypass the strait, including Saudi Arabia’s East-West oil pipeline, now account for more than 40 percent of overall exports from the region compared to 17 percent before the war.
Despite the increased flows, tensions surrounding the waterway and the spread of the conflict elsewhere in the region mean oil prices remain stubbornly high, with benchmark Brent crude at about $109 on Wednesday.
Hopes of a diplomatic breakthrough to the standoff between the US and Iran remain distant.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Wednesday that Washington could not expect dialogue while blockading and threatening Iran.
At least 18 vessel attacks were recorded in the region over the past two weeks, Reuters reported, amid warnings that Iran was carrying out more attacks at greater distances away from the Strait of Hormuz.