Iran sees record seven-week halt in crude exports through Strait of Hormuz

Iran’s crude oil exports through the Strait of Hormuz have effectively ground to a halt for seven consecutive weeks, the longest such disruption on record. The cause: a US naval blockade reinstated on July 14 that has turned one of the world’s most critical energy chokepoints into a parking lot for stranded tankers. The numbers tell a brutal story. Iranian crude loadings collapsed to between 220,000 and 255,000 barrels per day in August, down from roughly 740,000 bpd in July. For context, Iran was pushing nearly 2 million bpd through the strait as recently as March. That’s an 87% drop in five months. Tens of millions of barrels with nowhere to go As of late August, 29 Iranian tankers were sitting inside the Strait of Hormuz holding approximately 36.11 million barrels of crude oil. West of the blockade line, the situation isn’t much better. An additional 41.7 million barrels of Iranian crude sit in floating storage, effectively warehoused on the open water. Combined, that’s nearly 78 million barrels of oil trapped in maritime limbo, representing billions of dollars in stalled revenue for Tehran. The blockade traces back to the broader US-Iran conflict that escalated in late February...