Aramco CEO warns 1 billion barrels lost will slow oil market recovery

Saudi energy giant posts 25% jump in quarterly profit even as Hormuz blockade chokes global oil supplies

The world has lost about 1 billion barrels of oil over the past two months and energy markets will take time to stabilise even if flows resume, Saudi Aramco’s CEO said on Sunday, as shipping disruptions choke traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.

"Our objective is simple: keep energy flowing, even when the system is under strain," Amin Nasser told Reuters in a statement after Aramco reported a 25% jump in net profit in its first-quarter.

Global energy supplies have been sharply squeezed by Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, which has curtailed shipping and driven prices higher following the United States-Israeli war.

Read: Oil prices rise as investors weigh Middle East peace prospects

"Reopening routes is not the same as normalising a market that has been deprived of about one billion barrels of oil," Nasser said, adding that years of underinvestment have compounded the strain on already-low global inventories.

Aramco has used its East-West Pipeline to bypass Hormuz and transport crude to the Red Sea, an asset Nasser described as a "critical lifeline" to mitigate the global supply crisis.

Despite shifts in shipping routes, Nasser reiterated that Asia remained a key priority for the company and was central to global demand.

Read More: Hormuz: the chokehold that shook the world

In March, Aramco warned of "catastrophic consequences" for the world's oil markets if the Iran war continues to disrupt ‌shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. Nasser stated that the longer the disruption goes on "the more drastic the consequences for the global economy."

Further, he had stated, "While we have faced disruptions in the past, this one by far is the biggest crisis the region's ​oil and gas industry has faced."