{"text":[[{"start":8.96,"text":"Middle Eastern oil exports have rebounded to their highest levels since the Iran war began in February, as Gulf producers find ways around the Iranian blockade of the Strait of Hormuz."}],[{"start":19.68,"text":"Shipments from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Iraq have averaged 15.5mn barrels a day in September, the highest level of the war and more than 80 per cent of the average in the 12 months before the conflict began, according to data provider Kpler."}],[{"start":37.3,"text":"The recovery in exports threatens to diminish Tehran’s leverage in negotiations with the US for a peace agreement, with the US under less pressure to reach a deal while cargoes are leaving the Gulf."}],[{"start":48.68,"text":"The increased shipments were “primarily a reflection of Gulf export systems gradually getting back on their feet after months of disruption”, said Anshika Prajapati, an analyst at maritime consultancy Drewry. She added that the rebound in flows was largely driven by increased reliance on shuttle services through the Strait of Hormuz."}],[{"start":67.76,"text":"The shipments appear to have done little to contain oil prices, however, with Brent crude, the international benchmark, rising from about $90 a barrel at the end of August to more than $100 today, although it remains well below its wartime peak of more than $126 in April."}],[{"start":84.36,"text":"The region’s oil producers are increasingly offering to ferry crude from Gulf ports to vessels waiting outside the strait, taking the risks of traversing the strait away from shipping companies that would normally load tankers inside the Gulf."}],[{"start":97.52,"text":"“This has enabled oil companies to raise exports without being constrained by the number of ships willing to risk a Strait of Hormuz transit,” said Niels Rasmussen, chief shipping analyst at shipowners’ association Bimco."}],[{"start":109.92,"text":"Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest exporter, has sought to bypass the strait by sending oil through its East-West pipeline that traverses the Arabian Peninsula from the Gulf to the Red Sea."}],[{"start":120.52,"text":"It was forced to halt flows through the pipeline after an attack on September 10 and increase its exports through the strait. Loadings at its Ras Tanura port on the Gulf coast are at a wartime high at present, Kpler said."}],[{"start":133.08,"text":"The kingdom has since restored some pipeline operations and shipments from its Yanbu port on the Red Sea have increased this month. Saudi Arabia’s total oil exports through all routes more than doubled in September to 6.9mn barrels a day, according to preliminary data compiled by Kpler."}],[{"start":153.08,"text":"Flows from the UAE and Bahrain have also risen. Figures for the region may be revised upwards as more “dark” crossings — in which ships turn off their transponders while traversing high-risk chokepoints such as the Strait of Hormuz — are revealed."}],[{"start":168.16,"text":"Shuttle services and ship-to-ship transfers have continued despite attacks on shipping in the strait. UK Maritime Trade Operations has reported four attacks in the past week, including one tanker that caught fire in the strait overnight on Monday."}],[{"start":183.04,"text":"The vessel was the Kuwaiti supertanker Al Funtas, which has sailed multiple times through the waterway in the past three months, taking oil from Kuwait’s Burgan oilfield to tankers waiting off the coast of Fujairah in the UAE on the eastern side of the strait, according to Kpler."}],[{"start":198.84,"text":"UKMTO said that over the past seven days, US air cover was enabling an average of 30 vessels a day to pass through the strait, the majority of which were oil tankers."}],[{"start":210.52,"text":"The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has claimed to have targeted at least 19 vessels attempting to transit the strait since September 25, including seven overnight on Monday after US President Donald Trump publicly rejected Tehran’s proposed peace deal. However, the claim has not been independently confirmed."}],[{"start":230.16,"text":"Rates for supertankers to sail through the Strait of Hormuz hit record highs of $1.2mn a day last week. This has prompted a rush to buy any available tonnage that can sail to the Gulf to take advantage of the rates, with values of second-hand tankers also being pushed to record highs."}],[{"start":247.2,"text":"Nevertheless, the rise in oil shipments through the strait “appears to be an early step towards normalisation”, Drewry’s Prajapati said, even though exports remain below the prewar norm."}],[{"start":262.8,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1790730879_2991.mp3"}