U.S. crude exports climbed to a record 5.6 million barrels per day in May as the Middle East crisis pushed up demand for the country's oil from Asian and European refiners, ship tracking estimates showed on Monday. The U.S. and Israel's war with Iran triggered the largest-ever disruption to the global energy market with refiners globally scrambling for alternatives to Middle Eastern supply. Around a fifth of the world's oil and gas supplies passes through the Strait of Hormuz. a key waterway that effectively closed when the war started at the end of February. U.S. crude exports last month surged past the previous record set in April of 5.2 million bpd, according to data and analytics firm Kpler, as benchmark U.S. West Texas Intermediate prices traded at a steep discount to Brent, the global benchmark. Physical U.S. crude grades are typically priced as a differential to WTI, and a large discount to Brent makes it more economic for foreign buyers to purchase U.S. oil and ship it across the world.