Total CEO Puts Hormuz Oil Flow At About 10 Million Barrels A Day
The estimate compares against a far higher figure cited by a US official for daily flow through the strait.
Published
Map: The Gulf and Hormuz, marking Strait of Hormuz
Total's chief executive said about 10 million barrels of crude pass through the Strait of Hormuz each day, a figure he offered as the strait remains at the centre of the standoff between Washington and Tehran.
That number sits well below a US official's recent estimate of roughly 40 million barrels per day moving through the strait. The gap points either to a real slowdown in traffic or to the two sides simply measuring flows in different ways.
An Iranian official has said the strait will stay closed until Tehran's conditions are met, ruling out nuclear talks or concessions in the meantime. A senior Iranian source has said Tehran and Washington have exchanged messages linking any reopening to sanctions relief. A US official has said Washington controls the strait, calls its position strong, and sees no urgency to strike a deal.
For anyone pricing crude, the distance between Total's figure and the US estimate matters as much as the closure itself. Until it is clear whether throughput has genuinely fallen or the two sides are counting differently, the strait's true condition, and the risk premium it should carry, stays unsettled.