Blocking the Strait of Hormuz will inevitably trigger a global energy crisis while pushing oil prices to unseen heights, maybe even all the way up to $400/b. This is what the experts interviewed by PRIME think about the situation.
For those of you who don’t know, the Iranian authorities expressed their intension to block the Strait of Hormuz if the world’s major oil importers obey Donald Trump’s demand to stop importing crude oil form Iran.
The thing is that the Strait of Hormuz is vital to the energy world. Many of the world’s biggest oil nations export their oil through this strait, including Iran, Qatar, Kuwait, the UAE, as well as Saudi Arabia and Iraq.
17-15 million barrels of crude oil passes through this strait every day. By the way, this is 20% of the global export of crude oil! 80% of the export is intended for China, India, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and other Asian-Pacific nations.
So, international experts name $200/b and even $400/b if the Strait of Hormuz will eventually get blocked for a long period of time. In case you don’t know, the last time the export of crude oil from the region dropped a little, international oil prices went above $100/b closer to $150/b.
However, other experts don’t believe that Teheran will actually dare make such a crucial step since otherwise this will literally mean declaring a war on the rest of the world – both the exporter and the importers of crude oil. This would mean a suicide for the Iranian authorities. Back in 2012, Teheran used to threaten the world with the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz but those threats ended up being empty.
