Oil

The Trump Administration's Hormuz Oil Numbers Don't Add Up

Energy Secretary Chris Wright claims that more oil left the Middle East in a day than before the war. But the industry isn’t buying it—and gas prices are still high.

Matthew Petti | 8.12.2026 1:02 PM

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The Trump administration is making an extraordinary claim about the Strait of Hormuz. "On Sunday alone, over 20 million barrels left the Arabian gulf region, which is above the pre-conflict average," Secretary of Energy Chris Wright wrote on Tuesday on X. While Wright placed the current average at a more modest 15 million barrels per day, the implication was clear: The war with Iran isn't going to hurt Americans' pocketbooks any more, and the situation might even be better than before.

Thanks to the coordinated efforts of the U.S. military and our gulf allies, the seven-day average for oil leaving the Strait of Hormuz is currently up to almost 9 million barrels per day.

When combined with the additional 5-7 million barrels per day leaving the region via newly…

— Secretary Chris Wright (@SecretaryWright) August 11, 2026

But the energy industry just isn't buying it. Commodity Context, a market research service, has tracked 7 million barrels per day coming through the strait by sea for the past week, rather than Wright's claimed 9 million, and an average of 4 million barrels per day through bypass pipelines, rather than Wright's........

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