Reuters: Asia's August Oil Imports Show No Sign of a Hormuz Transit Surge

According to Reuters commodities columnist Clyde Russell, in a report carried by Oilprice.com on Thursday, 5 Shahrivar 1405 (August 27, 2026), data compiled by an analytics firm show Asia's crude oil imports are set to reach about 23.12 million barrels a day in August 2026, slightly down from 23.36 million barrels a day in July. The figures, the report said, do not support claims of a broad rebound in Strait of Hormuz tanker traffic to pre war levels, as US officials have asserted.

US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in mid August (Mordad) that Middle East oil exports had rebounded to 15 million barrels a day and had even topped the pre war average of 20 million barrels a day on some days. But according to ship tracking data cited in the same report, oil flow out of the Strait of Hormuz is, at best, half the figure the US energy secretary cited. Asia's imports from the Middle East rose to 11.11 million barrels a day in August from 10.76 million barrels a day in July, the report said, but remain more than 4 million barrels a day below the 15.82 million barrel average of the three months before the Iran war began.