Tanker traffic through Strait of Hormuz slumps; US Energy Department says 8.5 million barrels transited on Sunday

As US-Iran hostilities intensified and the naval blockade was reimposed, ship traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has fallen sharply. Ship-tracking firms say the number of crossings has dropped by more than half from the previous week.

Even so, the US Energy Department told CNBC that about 8.5 million barrels of oil transited the strait on Sunday despite the hostilities, still well below the roughly 20 million barrels that pass on a normal day. The Strait of Hormuz is the world's most important oil chokepoint and the main export route for Iran and its Persian Gulf neighbours, so any disruption feeds directly into global oil prices and Iran's oil revenue.