Oil is a particularly tricky resource to replace. It has been for 125 years now, except for the past five or six years, when we've had this new competitive lever in electric vehicles. The global EV fleet has been growing for years, gradually chipping away at the world's oil consumption as drivers turn to charging ports instead of gas stations.
The war is constraining oil exports and prompting major producers like Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Iraq to scale back output as shipments face growing obstacles. Iran has attacked commercial ships across the Persian Gulf and targeted oil infrastructure in Gulf Arab nations following U.S. and Israeli strikes. The attacks have effectively halted traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow passage that carries about one-fifth of the world's oil supply.
Oil futures touched $100 per barrel this week as Iran's new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei vowed to keep the Strait of Hormuz closed, the waterway through which a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas transits. The International Energy Agency called the conflict the biggest-ever disruption to oil supply, and Iran's security chief has stated the war won't end soon.
They have a "much greater effect, typically, than a missile," and can inflict millions of dollars worth of damage for just a few thousand bucks a pop. And they're pretty effective too: naval mines have caused 77% of all U.S. Navy ship casualties since 1950, per the Strauss Center at the University of Texas.
We will bring prices down, fill our strategic reserves up again right to the top, and export American energy all over the world. The president didn't set a deadline for himself to do so-but in retrospect, an expedient one might have been useful. A little over a year after his declaration, the U.S. is heavily involved in a conflict in the Middle East that has left a hole in globally traded petroleum supply and caused U.S. gas prices to jump.
