Strait trouble: Global oil tanks running dry at unprecedented pace as Hormuz remains choked

Oil pipelines across the globe are running dry, depleting at an unprecedented rate as the ongoing Iran war severely disrupts crude flows from the Persian Gulf, rapidly eroding the buffer that usually protects markets from supply shocks.

The sharp fall in inventories has triggered rising concern across governments and energy markets, with the loss of more than a billion barrels of supply over roughly two months of near-closure of the Strait of Hormuz leaving the system increasingly exposed. Analysts cited by Bloomberg have warned that the thinner cushion not only fuels the risk of price spikes and shortages in the near term, but also extends vulnerability well beyond the end of the conflict.