DUBAI, July 13 — The Strait of Hormuz is 33 kilometers wide, but it handles a staggering share of the world’s oil. Think of it as a single, two-lane highway for global energy — except any disruption here sends shockwaves through the entire system. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, roughly 21 million barrels of oil and petroleum products moved through the strait daily in 2023.
That’s about 20% of global petroleum consumption. In plain terms, if this waterway gets blocked, a fifth of the planet’s daily oil supply is suddenly stuck in traffic.
Who’s shipping through the chokepoint
The numbers break down by country. Saudi Arabia pushed over 7 million barrels per day through the strait in 2023. Iraq sent 3.5 million.
Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates each moved 2.5 million barrels daily. Qatar shipped 1.5 million barrels of oil and condensate per day, plus around 100 million metric tons of liquefied natural gas every year.
Even Iran, despite sanctions, exports about 500,000 barrels a day through the same route. The practical upshot: a handful of Gulf states depend almost entirely on this narrow passage to get their oil to market. There’s no practical alternative for most of that volume.
Why it’s so vulnerable
The strait’s depth limits traffic to just two shipping lanes, each about two miles wide. That’s a tight squeeze for the supertankers that haul crude. One disabled vessel, one mine, one military confrontation — and the whole system can grind to a halt.
History shows it’s not a hypothetical risk. During the Iran-Iraq War, from 1980 to 1988, the so-called Tanker War saw attacks on more than 500 vessels.
More recently, in 2019, Iran seized the British-flagged tanker Stena Impero. That same year, Iran attacked Saudi oil facilities at Abqaiq and Khurais, temporarily cutting Saudi production by 5.7 million barrels per day — a loss that, in a single stroke, wiped out more than 5% of global supply.
What to watch next
The Strait of Hormuz remains the world’s most critical energy chokepoint. For anyone watching global oil markets, the key question is whether tensions in the region escalate again. The infrastructure is there, the history is there, and the incentives for disruption haven’t gone away.
In practical terms, it means the price of gasoline in the U.S. — and energy security for the entire global economy — is still tied to that 33-kilometer stretch of water.
