Saudi Aramco Chief Executive Officer Amin Nasser expects pressure on the oil market to persist until the Strait of Hormuz reopens, Iran's Fars news agency reported. Rebuilding oil inventories consumed in the disruption could take up to two years, the CEO said.

The remarks, relayed by Fars and picked up by Newsquawk, frame a timeline question that now sits at the center of every crude and refined-product trading desk: how long the chokepoint stays impaired, and how quickly stocks can return to prior levels once it does not.

What does the two-year inventory figure imply?

Nasser's estimate of up to two years to rebuild inventories points to the scale of the drawdown that follows any sustained loss of shipments through the Strait of Hormuz. The waterway normally carries roughly a fifth of globally traded oil, so an extended closure removes supply that producers and refiners must replace from storage, spare capacity, and longer-route alternatives.

The CEO's framing treats inventory restoration — not the reopening itself — as the binding constraint on market normalization. Even after tankers resume transit, stocks drawn from commercial and strategic reserves would need replenishment, and that process, on his estimate, runs as long as 24 months.

Why does the reopening timing drive the pressure?

According to Fars's account of the comments, Nasser tied the duration of market pressure directly to the Hormuz reopening rather than to any single supply or demand balance forecast. That places the operational status of the strait above other variables — OPEC+ policy, refinery run rates, freight rates — as the indicator traders and planners should watch.

Until the channel reopens, buyers face higher shipping costs and longer voyages around alternative routes, and refiners dependent on Gulf crude and condensate compete for scarrier barrels. Nasser's comments, as reported, do not attach a date to a reopening; they condition the pressure's duration on it.

What should the market watch next?

The watch items are concrete. First, the operational status of the Strait of Hormuz itself — transit resumptions, insurance terms for owners willing to load Gulf cargoes, and any official statements from littoral states. Second, the pace of inventory draws and subsequent rebuilding, which Nasser's two-year estimate suggests will lag the physical reopening by a wide margin.

Third, Saudi Aramco's own scheduling and pricing indications for its crude grades, which will signal how the producer allocates barrels while the constraint persists. Nasser's comments, reported by Fars and Newsquawk, give the market a benchmark: pressure until the strait reopens, and up to two years of stock rebuilding after that.