Kuwaiti crude oil exports fell to zero in April, with Hormuz effectively shut

Kuwaiti crude oil exports tumbled from more than one million barrels a day to zero in April, according to Iranian media, marking the “first such disruption” since the end of the Gulf War in 1991.

The Gulf nation pumped oil throughout the month, but authorities moved some of the production to storage and allocated a portion to refined products, the Iranian Students’ News Agency (ISNA) reported Monday, citing data shared by the oil tracking platform TankerTracker.

Shipments of refined fuels “continued in limited volumes even as crude oil shipments dropped to zero,” ISNA said, highlighting a “sharp break from its usual export flow of more than one million barrels per day.”

Just on Sunday, several regional nations including Kuwait announced a boost to oil production targets despite the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

The oil cartel OPEC said Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria and Oman would raise output by an extra 188,000 barrels a day. The announcement came days after the UAE announced plans to leave the group in a blow to members.

Last month, oil output from the Middle East took a nosedive as parallel blockades imposed by the US and Iran on non-allied vessels in the Strait of Hormuz stemmed exports.

Source: CNN
-- Agencies