Flows of crude oil and fuels through the Strait of Hormuz fell by nearly 6 million barrels per day in the first quarter of 2026, the start of a seismic energy shock that has upended global supplies and sent prices surging.
Roughly 14.6 million barrels a day of crude oil and petroleum liquids moved through the strait in the first three months of the year, according to data released Wednesday by the U.S. Energy Information Administration. That was down from 20.4 million a year earlier, and compares with 20.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2025.
The Strait of Hormuz has been effectively closed since the beginning of the war in Iran, choking off a vital route for about a quarter of the world’s seaborne oil. Brent futures, the global benchmark, have surged more than 45% since the conflict began. In the U.S., national retail gasoline prices have topped $4.50 a gallon to hover near their highest levels since 2022.
The increase in energy costs is now rippling into broader indicators of inflation. The U.S. producer price index, a measure of wholesale costs, rose 6% in April from a year ago, the sharpest monthly gain since 2022.
As supplies are diverted away from the Strait of Hormuz, volumes rose for crude oil and liquids transported through the Panama Canal and the Bab El-Mandeb Strait in the first quarter. That came as producers utilized alternative shipping routes and as buyers scrambling to replace Middle East supplies drove shipments in other parts of the world.
This is the first edition of the EIA’s new Global Energy Security Data report, launched in part to assess how the war in Iran has disrupted global energy supplies and reshaped assumptions about oil markets.
