this 21-mile wide strait controls 20% of the world's oil the strait of hormuz is the narrow passage between iran and oman connecting the persian gulf to the gulf of oman at its narrowest it's just 21 miles wide (shipping lanes only 2 miles wide each way) you can get nearly 21 million barrels of oil flowing through here every single day - about one fifth of global seaborne trade plus a ton of LNG this chokepoint serves major producers like saudi arabia, uae, kuwait and iraq heading mostly to asia you will get live ship tracking dashboards with all the information about the tankers passing through this tiny strait is literally connecting middle east oil producers with the direct global customers who need energy