The Strait of Hormuz carries roughly 20 million barrels of oil per day — about a fifth of the world’s petroleum liquids consumption. It is the single most important chokepoint in global energy, and there is no full alternative route.
Why the number is so large
The strait is the only sea outlet from the Persian Gulf. Every barrel exported by Saudi Arabia, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar and Iran that goes by ship has to pass through it, along with a large share of the world’s LNG — Qatar alone is one of the top LNG exporters, and its cargoes exit through Hormuz.
How wide is it, really?
At its narrowest the strait is about 33 km wide, but the shipping lanes that tankers actually use are far narrower — roughly two kilometres in each direction, separated by a buffer zone. That is what makes it so sensitive: a huge volume of traffic is compressed into a very small, easily-monitored space that runs along the Iranian coast.
Is there a way around it?
Only partly. Saudi Arabia and the UAE have built pipelines that can move some crude to ports on the Red Sea and the Gulf of Oman, bypassing the strait. But that spare pipeline capacity covers only a fraction of Gulf exports, so most oil still has to sail through Hormuz. That lack of a real bypass is exactly why any threat to the strait sends prices sharply higher.