Hormuz Carries 20.7 Million Barrels a Day. The Detour Can't Keep Up

The Strait of Hormuz carried about 20.7 million barrels of oil a day in 2024, while LNG through the same gap accounted for one-fifth of global trade and had no pipeline detour.

EIA's 2024 figures show why Saudi Arabia's East-West pipeline and the UAE's Fujairah route offered only a partial oil bypass, while Qatar's LNG had no route out by land. UNCTAD's June 2026 table reveals another blind spot: a supplier's location does not prove a tanker crossed the strait, and import exposure says nothing about storage cover. Seychelles, the Maldives, Zambia, Uganda and South Korea show why pipelines, Indian Ocean ports and fuel reserves matter more than the headline ranking.

#StraitOfHormuz #EnergySecurity #GlobalTrade

0:00 The Strait That Slowed to Single Digits
3:27 The 99 Percent Country
6:10 Twenty Days of Fuel
8:45 The Table's Blind Spot
11:23 The Commodity With No Detour
14:11 Weighing the Three-Part Claim

Sources:
- https://www.eia.gov/international/content/analysis/special_topics/World_Oil_Transit_Chokepoints/
- https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=65504+
- https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/index.php?tg=chokepoints
- https://www.eskom.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/61.US-EIA_World-Oil-transit-Choke-Points_2024.pdf
- https://finance.yahoo.com/energy/articles/scott-bessent-calls-strait-hormuz-153031081.html

#AI #GeopoliticalChokepoints #GeopoliticalChokepoints

Music: "Immersed" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) -- Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Real photos and footage used (credit to their owners):
- Photo: European Space Agency (ESA) (Attribution) -- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Strait_of_Hormuz.png
- Photo: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC (Public domain) -- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Strait_of_Hormuz_and_Musandam_Peninsula_(MODIS_2018-12-10).jpg
- Photo: U.S. Navy USNF-5F by NAVCENT Public Affairs (Public domain) -- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Joint_Maritime_Information_Center_Meets_with_Cruise_Ship_Industry_Officials_to_Discuss_Red_Sea_Security_(8886532).jpg
- Photo: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC (Public domain) -- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Strait_of_Hormuz_(MODIS_2020-12-04).jpg
- Photo: Luka Peternel (CC BY-SA 4.0) -- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Artificial-Islands-Maldives-2019-Luka-Peternel.jpg
- Photo: devopstom (CC BY-SA 2.0) -- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lijmiliya_LNG_carrier_QatarGas.jpg
- Photo: Dr. Ondřej Havelka (cestovatel) (CC BY-SA 4.0) -- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1_Maldives,_Indian_Ocean,_Asia.jpg
- Photo: UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) (CC BY-SA 4.0) -- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:16th_conference_on_trade_and_development_(UNCTAD16)_-_54868076752.jpg
- Photo: Simisa (CC BY-SA 3.0) -- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Seychelles_outer_islands_25.08.2009_10-20-38.jpg
- Photo: Rithan.100425 (CC BY-SA 4.0) -- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Port_Of_Fujairah.jpg
- Photo: Dr. Ondřej Havelka (cestovatel) (CC BY-SA 4.0) -- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1_Small_Island,_Maldives.jpg
- Photo: Dr. Ondřej Havelka (cestovatel) (CC BY-SA 4.0) -- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aerial_shot,_Maldives.jpg
- Photo: Mike Rosenberg from London, England (CC BY 2.0) -- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ndola_view_-_Flickr.jpg
- Photo: Prof. Chen Hualin (CC BY-SA 4.0) -- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_detailed_view_of_Dar_es_Salaam_Port.jpg
- Photo: NASA (Public domain) -- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:S66-54536.jpg

Archive photos and footage (public domain): Wikimedia Commons.
Image credits:
- Oil pipelines, jubail desert, Saudi Arabia - panoramio by Suresh Babunair, CC BY 3.0 (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Oil_pipelines,_jubail_desert,_Saudi_Arabia_-_panoramio.jpg)
- Dar Es Salaam port activities in Tanzania by Sarvesh Lutchmun, CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dar_Es_Salaam_port_activities_in_Tanzania.jpg)
- Maputo harbour by Julien Lagarde, CC BY-SA 2.5 (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Maputo_harbour.jpg)
- Mohamed Muizzu's cabinet meeting on October 6, 2026 by The President's Office, Maldives, CC BY 4.0 (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mohamed_Muizzu%27s_cabinet_meeting_on_October_6,_2026.jpg)
- Aerial view of oil storage in Barcelona 01 by Joe Mabel, CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aerial_view_of_oil_storage_in_Barcelona_01.jpg)
- Oil tanker, gas tanker in the high sea Refinery Industry cargo ship (52848038105) by Jernej Furman from Slovenia, CC BY 2.0 (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Oil_tanker,_gas_tanker_in_the_high_sea_Refinery_Industry_cargo_ship_(52848038105).jpg)
(list shortened to fit YouTube's limit)