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Middle East oil exports, excluding Iran, reached pre-war levels last week, according to maritime tracking firm Kpler's data. This marks the first time since the US and Israel launched their offensive against Iran in February, when weekly average shipments rose above the pre-conflict average of 18 million barrels per day. Crude oil exports hit the pre-war level of 16.5 million barrels in September, with at least that amount leaving the region this week, excluding Iran, Kpler reported on Wednesday.

Currently, 40% of crude oil shipments avoid the Strait of Hormuz, with most of the oil passing through Saudi and United Arab Emirates pipelines. Around a fifth of the world's petroleum supplies previously crossed Iran's Hormuz Strait before the conflict. Iran maintains control over the strait, but more ships are successfully navigating through, and alternative routes designed to circumvent the blockade are operating at full capacity.

Despite this progress, experts caution that the situation remains far from normal, as Iran continues to suffer from a significant loss of its own oil exports due to a US counterblockade on its ports. Saudi Arabia benefits from the reactivation of its East-West pipeline, which links the kingdom's major oil fields in the east to its Yanbu terminal on the Red Sea, enabling it to bypass Hormuz.

The pipeline, shut down on September 11 following strikes from Iraq, resumed operations on September 22, according to Amena Bakr, an analyst at Kpler. The United Arab Emirates also benefits from bypassing Hormuz through its pipeline that connects Abu Dhabi's fields to Fujairah, a terminal located just outside the strait on the Gulf of Oman.