UAE Oil Exports Surge to 85% of Pre-War Levels, IEA Says
(Bloomberg) -- Oil exports from the United Arab Emirates in early June recovered to nearly 85% of the country’s pre-Iran war levels — rebounding even before Washington and Tehran inked an interim peace deal as the Gulf nation drew on pipelines, storage and alternate shipping routes, according to a report from the International Energy Agency.
The UAE’s 4.3 million barrels per day of oil exports in early June was up from just 1.9 million barrels per day in March, shortly after the war broke out, the IEA said. The UAE was able to achieve this by using a pipeline that bypasses the Strait of Hormuz to the port Fujairah, in addition to its 42-million-barrel Mandous underground storage facility near the port.
The UAE also ramped up exports through the Strait of Hormuz “with tankers’ transponders turned off to avoid detection,” the IEA said.
Through the war, the UAE’s Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. has been quietly ferrying oil and gas shipments out of the Gulf using its own fleet, apparently clearing both the Iranian navy and US warships to reach energy-starved customers. That made Adnoc one of the region’s most active shippers, often using smaller tankers to shuttle crude out of the strait.
That type of shipping was one of the many workarounds that helped to keep crude from skyrocketing further during the supply crisis, with the market defying many of the industry’s grimmest forecasts for prices as high as $200. The steady trickle of crude that still made its way through the strait came amid record US exports, along with a sharp and unexpected slowdown in Chinese demand.
Oil prices are now trading near pre-war levels, after the US and Iran signed an interim peace deal and flows picked up through the critical strait. Even though more ships have begun signaling their transits, some still opt to turn off their transponders for a portion of the crossing.
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