20M barrels of oil just exited the Strait of Hormuz, says US official

Some 20 million barrels of crude oil have exited the Strait of Hormuz in the last 24 hours, as tankers continue to transit the key waterway for Middle East supply, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said on Wednesday.

“I could say roughly 72 ships in the last 24 hours, and 20 million barrels of oil,” Wright told the Reuters Global Energy Forum in New York when asked how much oil had exited the strait, following an initial U.S.-Iran agreement to end the war.

“Iran will not have the ability to close the Strait of Hormuz going forward. That’s a critical thing, that’s their key leverage, and we’re taking that leverage away from them,” he added.

Benchmark oil prices fell more than US$3 on Wednesday to ​their lowest level since before the start of the Iran war in February as supply concerns eased with more stranded oil tankers exiting the strait.

Shipments through the narrow waterway bordering Iran have been curtailed for months by the conflict, interrupting the flow of about one-fifth of the world’s crude oil.