Kuwait Plans to Produce Over 2 Million Barrels/Day Within a Week; Saudi Oil Tankers Resume Strait of Hormuz Routes
0xBroomberg
After the interim US-Iran deal, Kuwait says output will top 2 million b/d within a week and return to pre-war levels in weeks, while at least seven Saudi tankers resumed Hormuz Strait routes the same day — signaling a synchronized pivot from blockade to normalization across the Gulf.
How fast is Kuwait ramping up?
Kuwait Petroleum Corp. CEO Sheikh Nawaf al-Sabah confirmed the ramp has begun: daily output will exceed 2 million barrels within one week.
The target is a return to the pre-war level of roughly 2.5 million b/d "within weeks" — ahead of earlier expectations.
This means → output that was squeezed to about 500,000 b/d during the blockade is set to quadruple in the near term.
What does lifting force majeure mean?
Sheikh Nawaf announced that all force majeure notices — legal declarations suspending supply obligations due to war — are lifted with immediate effect.
In plain terms = Kuwait is now contractually bound to deliver again; the supply chain is officially switching from "disruption mode" back to "normal mode."
Kuwait pledged to coordinate with buyers for a smooth transition on contracted volumes.
Why did Saudi tankers suddenly change course?
At least four Bahri supertankers made sharp course changes Thursday, turning from the Indian Ocean toward the Gulf of Oman.
Separately, at least three other Bahri tankers stranded in the Persian Gulf for months transited out through the Strait of Hormuz the same day.
This signals that Riyadh judges the strait safe enough to redeploy stalled capacity into the market.
What did the cautious strategy cost Saudi Arabia?
Per Bloomberg, the four Indian Ocean tankers had been parked since mid-April, forgoing millions of dollars in potential freight revenue.
This means → during the largest freight-rate surge in tanker history, Bahri's conservative stance was a deliberate miss on windfall profits.
By contrast, more risk-tolerant owners crossed the strait with transponders off — capturing the premium but accepting the security exposure.
Is Iraq following suit?
Basra Oil Company GM Bassim Abdul Kareem confirmed that supply from Iraq's southern core production zone has already increased.
The immediate driver: tankers arriving to load have freed up storage capacity that had been maxed out.
This reflects a key reality — boosting output only matters once downstream shipping capacity shows up to move the barrels.
What is still missing for a full recovery?
The Strait of Hormuz carried roughly one-fifth of global oil supply before the war; the current multi-country push is directionally aligned.
But the actual pace of recovery hinges on two variables: the arrival cadence of international commercial shipping and the progress of infrastructure repairs.
In plain terms = the producing countries have opened the taps, but whether the oil flows smoothly depends on whether there are enough ships and whether the ports are fixed.
Content is for reference only, not financial advice.