Oil flows through Hormuz have recovered substantially, but dark shipping and incompatible datasets make Washington’s claim of 18 million barrels crossing in one day impossible to independently verify.

US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright said that 17 million barrels of oil transited the Strait of Hormuz on Monday.

With pipeline shipments from Saudi Arabia and the UAE that make it possible to bypass the Strait of Hormuz taken into account, oil exports from the region exceeded pre-war levels…