Oil Firms Near $90 Before Easing as Shipping Industry Stays Skeptical of Hormuz Mine-Clearing Claim

Brent crude opened near $90.55/bbl in early Aug 28 trading (up 87 cents) before easing back to close around $88.29 (-0.40%), per Straits Daily Brief, as markets continued to digest CENTCOM's mine-clearing announcement without pricing in a durable supply recovery. The brief counted 383 vessels still holding position away from berth — down from 449 a week earlier — with just 3 transits recorded as of Aug 23 against an 85/day pre-crisis baseline, and flagged a persistent gap between CENTCOM's 'cleared and open' declaration and shipping companies' continued reluctance to resume normal routing. A separate Al Jazeera analysis of the war's shipping impact found daily Hormuz transits collapsed from over 100 vessels to as few as 5 at the crisis's worst point (a roughly 95% drop), Gulf crude exports fell 47% (from 17 million bpd in 2025 to about 9 million bpd by August), and the closure disrupted routes that normally carry 38% of global crude, 29% of global LPG, and 19% of global LNG trade — squeezing import-dependent economies including Pakistan, Kenya, and Eritrea (each 75-90%+ reliant on Middle Eastern oil) hardest.