Kuwait Petroleum chief says crude exports are back at prewar levels

Chief executive Sheikh Nawaf Al-Sabah says Kuwait is producing well over 2 million barrels a day as customers send tankers into the Gulf to collect crude.

Kuwait Petroleum Corporation's chief executive, Sheikh Nawaf Al-Sabah, says Kuwait's crude exports are back at prewar levels and output is running well over 2 million barrels a day, with customers now willing to send their own tankers into the Gulf to collect it.

The statement marks a sharp jump from Al-Sabah's own account on October 5, when he put Kuwait's output at about 75% of prewar levels, still recovering after Iran's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz had pushed production below 1 million barrels a day in the early months of the conflict, according to Bloomberg. Kuwait's prewar output stood at about 2.6 million barrels a day, Bloomberg reported.

Wider Gulf data point the same way. Kpler figures cited by Oil & Gas 360 show exports from Gulf producers, excluding Iran, averaging 24.6 million barrels a day in the week to October 18, above the roughly 23.3 million barrels a day seen before the conflict. A separate account, the AVDD Strait of Hormuz SITREP, says about 40% of non-Iranian Gulf crude now bypasses the strait entirely, up from 17% before the war, even though direct shipments through Hormuz remain more than a third below prewar levels, Oil & Gas 360 reports.

Crude is giving back earlier gains on Wednesday as the shipping data undercuts the case for a lingering supply shortfall, Oil & Gas 360 reports. If Kuwait's exports are genuinely back near prewar rates rather than only partially recovered, that points to more supply reaching the market sooner than traders had priced, adding further downward pressure on crude as the disruption narrative that has supported prices weakens.