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Saudi Aramco CEO Warns Strait Disruptions to Delay Oil Market Normalization Until 2027

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Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser warned that the ongoing disruptions to oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz could delay the market's return to normalcy until 2027.

During the company's Q1 earnings call on Monday, Nasser said that even if these disruptions were to last a few more weeks, "it is going to take a much longer time for the oil market to rebalance and stabilize," dragging all the way into the following year, if the situation stays the same until mid-June.

The market is currently losing as much as 100 million barrels of oil each week, as traffic through the strategically crucial strait has dropped to low single digits, Nasser said, according to the transcript of the call available on FactSet.

A major reason normalization would take so long, he said, was the massive disruption to global tanker logistics, which he said was now "messed up" with "over 600 vessels" stranded inside the Hormuz and another "240 waiting outside."

As a result, he said global energy and commodity supply chains would need "several months to return to their pre-conflict traffic," which he said was based on his optimistic view of things.

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