Hormuz Shock: Crude Inventory Draws & Quality Crisis Drawing down: How the market is absorbing the Hormuz shock | Kpler - May 12, 2026

Surplus buffers are depleted, deficits of 2.6 Mbd loom in May, and a quality mismatch compounds the volumetric crisis in global crude markets. The crude market’s initial buffers - floating storage, oil in transit, and surplus barrels - have been exhausted by the Strait of Hormuz disruption, leaving accelerating commercial inventory draws, a ~2.6 Mbd May deficit, and a structural quality mismatch as the final defences against a tightening global supply crunch. May 12, 2026