finance
Strait of Hormuz Tanker Traffic Halts After Iranian Strikes and U.S. Blockade
Fatih Birol of the IEA said the strait must reopen within weeks to avoid economic difficulties for global economies. Oil prices have risen 13 percent since last Friday following the halt in tanker traffic.
Jul 16, 3:30 AM·1m read1 source
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Tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz came to an abrupt halt late last week after Iran struck commercial vessels including two supertankers operated by the Abu Dhabi national oil company of the UAE. The U.S. carried out strikes on Iran and reinstated a naval blockade to prevent Iran-linked tankers from loading and exporting the country's oil.
Daily transits fell to five-week lows. Fatih Birol, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency, stated that the world has just a few weeks before an economic toll sets in from the re-escalation and the traffic halt. Oil prices have risen by about 13 percent since last Friday as markets priced in further disruption to oil flows.
“If the Strait of Hormuz remains closed we may again have some difficulty for global economies, including those in the region and developing nations and Asia,” Birol told Bloomberg in an interview published on Thursday. He added that the strait needs to be “fully open, unconditionally open” within weeks to spare the global economy from new challenges and slowdown.
Arsenio Dominguez, Secretary General of the United Nations’ International Maritime Organization, said navigation through the Strait of Hormuz is now too dangerous for ship owners and operators.
