Energy secretary says nearly 13 million barrels a day still cross Hormuz

US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said on Sunday that oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz were averaging nearly 13 million barrels a day, with shipments rising despite Iranian threats against shipping¹. He made the remarks to Fox News⁴. Wright put the figure at approximately 13 million barrels a day and said one day had reached 20 million⁵. Other accounts of the same interview reported around 13 million barrels of oil passing through the strait every day³.

He also said the US military is ensuring the continued flow of oil, gas, refined products and fertilizers through the waterway². The figure was given as an average rather than a single reading, and the same number was carried by outlets reporting the interview separately^3,4.

Why it matters to investors

Flow, not closure, is the number that sets prices. A strait moving under naval escort prices as a cost and a risk premium rather than as a supply outage, and that is the condition Wright described^1,2.

His list is also broader than crude. Gas, refined products and fertilizers are all named as cargoes the military is protecting², which extends the exposure from energy into agricultural input costs. The single-day peak he cited suggests throughput is volatile rather than throttled to a fixed ceiling⁵, and the figure he gave for the average is the same one other outlets took from the interview^3,4.

The contrast with the diplomatic track is the point. Iran’s rejected proposal was framed around reopening a strait, which implies one that is shut; the energy secretary is describing a waterway that is moving, and moving under protection^1,2. Those are different starting assumptions, and they imply different risk premiums.

What to watch

Wright tied the flow question to domestic supply in the same appearance, saying the administration is working to build the first new US refinery in decades⁶. He also discussed what is causing prices at the pump, how foreign conflict feeds into them, refineries, and the demand that AI data centers place on the energy system⁶.

Three things are worth following. Whether the average holds, since the flows were described as rising despite Iranian threats against shipping¹. Whether the escort mission is described as open-ended², because the premium in freight and insurance depends on how long protection is expected to last. And whether the daily figure stays near the level Wright cited, given that the peak day he mentioned sat well above the average^3,5.