Iranian crude loadings plunge from 2 million barrels in March to just 250,000
Daily loadings of Iranian crude have fallen by more than 80 percent, from about 2 million barrels per day in March to roughly 255,000 barrels in August. The decline comes as international oil supply pressures deepen following the United States' resumption of a maritime blockade against Iran. According to data from firms that track seaborne cargoes, including Kpler, Vortexa and TankerTrackers.com, Iran's crude loadings averaged about 255,000 barrels per day in August.
The impact of the pressure on Iran is now spreading to alternative transport routes for Gulf crude. A drone attack last week inflicted heavy damage on Saudi Arabia's East-West Pipeline, and repair work is reported to have idled most of the pipeline's operations for three to five weeks. The pipeline had recently been a key bypass, moving 2.6 million to 4 million barrels of crude per day from the kingdom's interior to the Red Sea coast.
Pressure is also mounting at the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which connects the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean. Iran-backed Houthi rebels attacked and captured the Red Sea port city of Mokha in Yemen on August 10, and have seized additional territory and strategic islands around the strait.
Commercial shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz is also on the decline. According to Kpler, which tracks real-time maritime logistics data, the number of visible commodity-carrying vessels transiting the strait has repeatedly registered in the single digits.
