Overview
- This week Kpler data showed oil and petroleum product movements through the Strait of Hormuz have climbed to roughly 13 million barrels per day, signaling a strong but incomplete rebound from wartime lows.
- Saudi Arabia has restarted its East‑West pipeline and resumed reduced loadings at the Red Sea port of Yanbu after drone strikes on Sept. 10 halted flows, shifting more Saudi crude back through Hormuz.
- Tehran has offered a conditional plan to reopen the strait that calls for a seven‑day ceasefire, lifting sanctions and ending the US naval blockade, and Iran says it is waiting for a formal US response while mediators continue contact.
- Iranian leaders have publicly threatened attacks on regional energy and shipping infrastructure, and the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations reported an 'unknown projectile' hit a vessel in the strait this week, causing a fire that was later extinguished.
- Despite recent gains, combined flows through Hormuz, Bab al‑Mandeb and the Suez remain far below prewar levels, US naval counterblockade has slashed Iranian exports, and buyers and navies are adapting supply chains and contracts with longer‑term trust and price risks for consumers.