Hormuz oil shipments hit six-month high, U.S. military commander says

Vessels near the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Musandam, Oman, on Aug. 31 | REUTERS

Bloomberg

Sep 20, 2026

Oil and liquefied natural gas shipments through the Strait of Hormuz in the past two weeks reached the highest level in six months, signaling that U.S. naval protection and mine clearance efforts are “paying off,” a regional U.S. commander said.

“Clearly, momentum is building,” Admiral Brad Cooper, head of U.S. Central Command, said in a video message Saturday. The strait’s primary transit lanes are clear of mines and Persian Gulf allies have shipped more than 1 billion barrels of crude through it “in the last couple months,” he said.

Cooper’s comments follow a growing global squeeze on oil and petroleum products since the summer, spurred in part by drone attacks linked to the Iran war that halted a Saudi Arabian pipeline bypassing the strait. Iran maintains it has closed the strait and regional negotiations on agreed shipping routes have faltered.

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