Mideast oil exports exceeded pre-Iran war levels: Kpler data

Middle East oil exports, excluding Iran, surged past their pre-war average of 18 million barrels per day last week, according to Kpler data, despite Strait of Hormuz attacks. Crude oil shipments hit pre-war levels in September, with at least 16.5 million barrels leaving the region, excluding Iran, the maritime tracking firm reported.

"Forty percent now avoid Hormuz, and most crude passing through the strait travels offshore in tankers," Kpler stated. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates primarily manage the oil through their respective pipelines. The figures cover Red Sea flows, a route increasingly utilized to circumvent Iran's blockade of Hormuz, where roughly a fifth of global petroleum supplies once passed before the conflict.

Iran still asserts jurisdiction over the strait, but ships without its approval risk assault. However, more vessels are navigating through, and alternative routes to bypass the waterway are operating at full capacity. Nevertheless, analysts emphasized that the scenario remained far from typical, as Iran still loses a substantial portion of its exports due to a U.S. counterblockade of its ports.

Saudi Arabia benefits from the reinstated East-West pipeline, connecting its key oil fields in the east to the Yanbu terminal on the Red Sea, allowing it to evade Hormuz. The pipeline was halted on September 11 following strikes from Iraq, but resumed operations on September 22, as per Amena Bakr, a Kpler analyst. The United Arab Emirates also bypasses Hormuz via its pipeline linking Abu Dhabi's fields to Fujairah, a terminal just outside the strait on the Gulf of Oman.