Global Automotive Sales Data

Day 204 — 14 vessels transited the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday and Sunday, down from 36 the previous weekend: 11 exited, three entered, seven departures took the Iranian route and some crossed with transponders off (preliminary Kpler data, via The National, Sep 21). Saudi crude exports recovered to more than 4M bpd so far in September from 2.4M bpd in August, the lowest since at least 2013, after Aramco concentrated loadings at Ras Tanura and Juaymah and moved barrels through the strait it had been bypassing (Kpler provisional data, via Reuters); JPMorgan put Saudi volumes through Hormuz at 2.9M b/d over six days against 700,000 b/d in August. Houthi forces said they struck sites in Riyadh and an Aramco facility at Yanbu with missiles and drones on Saturday; the Saudi-led coalition said the attack was intercepted with no casualties or damage. Crude fell more than 2% to a two-week low. AAA's national diesel average set an eighteenth consecutive record at $6.5107, while California diesel eased for the first day in the run. On the water, straits.live counts 493 vessels holding position away from berth, up 150 on the figure seven days earlier.