Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Saturday said that the Iranian government’s threats to hinder the movement of oil had failed, touting the increased flow of oil out of the Persian Gulf region.
Scott Bessent Says Oil Movement Exceeded Pre-War Levels
In a post on the social media platform X, the Treasury Secretary said that “Iran’s efforts to disrupt energy shipments” had little impact as “oil exports from the Persian Gulf” were now “roaring back” and that the movement had “surpassed pre-conflict levels.”
Bessent then said that Iran’s “threats” to oil movement had “failed to stop the flow of energy to global markets.” He also shared a chart showcasing oil movement data sourced by the Treasury Department, depicting that roughly 17-18 million barrels of oil had moved out of the region per day by the end of September 2026.
Earlier this month, provisional data from ship tracker Kpler showed that anywhere between 19.5 million and 22.5 million barrels of oil had moved per day out of the Middle East towards the end of September. The data also showed that roughly 18.5 million barrels had moved on October 1st.
Despite the heightened oil movement, RBC Capital Markets‘ Head of Global Commodity Strategy, Helima Croft, said that the movement was aided by massive deployment of U.S. naval assets in the region, warning that such moves were not sustainable in the long term.
Gavin Newsom, Pete Buttigieg Slam Trump
Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg criticized President Donald Trump over high gas and diesel costs in the U.S. after the latter said that oil companies were making “hundreds of billions of dollars” following the Iran war.
On the other hand, Trump, following reports of an attack on Iran, eased concerns over an immediate strike on Tehran, saying that there would be no near-term escalation in the war.
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