The Middle East’s leading Arab oil producing nations are shipping crude at about the same rate as before the war, bringing a tide of supply to the global market that’s helped to temper prices.

Combined exports from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq and Kuwait climbed by 10% to 15.53 million barrels a day in October, putting them roughly in line with levels shipped at the start of the year, according to tanker-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg and energy-analytics firms. By contrast, Iran’s exports remained at zero for a second month amid a US naval blockade.

The resurgence in flows from Gulf Arab producers attests to the success of covert shuttle runs by tankers through the Strait of Hormuz waterway, pioneered by the UAE and adopted more recently by the Saudis.

It’s helping to keep physical oil markets well supplied and to moderate prices at a critical moment, when the elevated cost of fuels like gasoline and diesel is squeezing consumers, stoking inflation and presenting political risks for President Donald Trump as voters head to the polls for midterm elections.

Saudi Arabia led the latest surge, boosting flows to 7 million barrels a day in October, a 13% month-on-month hike, according to a combination of data from tanker-tracking and satellite images, as well as figures from Kpler and Vortexa. The nation’s Energy Ministry didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

While crude futures retreated on Monday as both Washington and Tehran signaled they may continue to seek a diplomatic resolution, fears of renewed military escalation are keeping the market supported. Brent contracts are trading near $106 a barrel.

Having lagged behind the UAE for most of the conflict, Saudi exports started picking up when the OPEC leader ramped up flows through Hormuz in response to a temporary closure of its alternative East-West pipeline during an attack in September that was launched from Iraq.

With the resumption of the East-West link, the kingdom is now benefiting from both its traditional Persian Gulf route and its Red Sea bypass. Last week, satellite images from the European Union’s Sentinel 2 orbiter showed nine supertankers moored at Saudi berths in the Persian Gulf, a notable acceleration in loading activity.

In October, the bulk of the increase came from the kingdom’s port of Yanbu on the Red Sea, where exports jumped by 35% to 3.07 million barrels a day.

Visibility into tanker traffic remains impeded as many ships deactivate transponders to avoid detection and attack, meaning the flow of barrels could be even larger than what’s observed.

The second-biggest increase last month came from Iraq, which bolstered flows by 9.5% to 3.35 million barrels a day, approaching pre-war levels, the figures showed. Shipments rose from the southern port of Basrah, and almost doubled through a northern route via Turkey. The country said last month its exports were close to pre-war levels.

Flows from the UAE, which engineered a surge months before its gulf counterparts, edged higher, by 50,000 barrels a day to an average of 3.74 million barrels a day, the highest since July.

The nation’s production hit a new record in September, according to the International Energy Agency. UAE Energy Minister Suhail Al Mazrouei told a conference in Abu Dhabi on Monday that the country’s oil exports has surpassed prewar rates “at certain times” during the conflict, without specifying how much it’s currently shipping.

Kuwait boosted exports by a third in October to the highest since before the outbreak of the war, sending out 1.44 million barrels a day on a growing fleet of tankers, data from tanker-tracking and Kpler indicated. Kuwait’s state oil company already said last month that exports were back to around pre-conflict levels.

Besides recouping sales volumes and revenues impacted by the war, the three gulf countries still in OPEC may have an additional incentive to maximize exports, as the organization’s members prepare to negotiate production targets for 2027.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies are conducting a review of how much each member can physically pump, with a view to calibrating quotas when ministers meet on Nov. 29.

Iran was the prominent exception. No exports of crude or condensate — a type of light oil — were detected in tanker-tracking for a second consecutive month as the US continued to impose its blockade.

Satellite images from the EU’s Sentinel 1 and Sentinel 2 orbiters showed no loading activity at the Kharg Island jetties and the Soroosh and Jask export terminals in October.

Still, that picture could be incomplete. Most tankers hauling Iranian crude don’t send position signals while inside the Persian Gulf, making tracking of those ships through Hormuz more difficult.