Washington, Aug.12 (SANA) Disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz have evolved from a crisis obstructing part of global oil and gas flows into a broader test of the international energy system, challenging a decades-old assumption that energy supplies can move through safe and stable shipping routes.
According to a CNN report, the global energy sector relies on a system extending far beyond oil and gas fields, pipelines, refineries, export terminals and tanker fleets. It includes financial markets, insurance, maritime law, long-term contracts, diplomacy and military deterrence, as well as confidence that the system will continue to operate reliably.
Oil prices edged lower in Tuesday trading but held most of their recent gains near the week’s highest levels. Brent crude stood at about $87.70 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate was above $82.
Schreiner Parker, head of emerging markets and national oil companies at energy consultancy Rystad Energy, described the Hormuz disruptions as a test of the broader energy system. The question now, he said, is whether markets and investors remain prepared to treat passage through the strait as a given, as they had in the past.
Hormuz emerges as a new measure of risk
Recent developments have shown how quickly the impact of the crisis can spread from shipping activity across the energy market, with maritime traffic and oil exports declining, insurance premiums and freight costs rising, precautionary inventories increasing and some investments being deferred.
According to data from commodity analytics firm Kpler, the volume of crude oil and condensate aboard tankers worldwide has risen to about 1.35 billion barrels, the highest level on record. That surpassed the previous record of 1.33 billion barrels registered at the end of 2025.
The increase came as oil exports from the Arabian Gulf remained relatively high during the first weeks of the crisis, reaching about 12.5 million barrels per day in late June and early July, or roughly 80 percent of pre-war levels, while supplies from regions west of the Suez Canal continued to flow.
Arne Lohmann Rasmussen, chief analyst and head of research at Global Risk Management, said prospects for reopening the strait in the near term had diminished as positions over the conditions for doing so remained far apart.
He said a shift in market sentiment could push oil prices higher in the coming days.
Gulf retains its competitive advantage
Parker said the current shock was unlikely to displace Gulf oil producers because the region continues to hold some of the world’s largest and lowest-cost hydrocarbon resources, while the fundamental economics of production remain largely unchanged.
By contrast, the effects of risk repricing could become more apparent among Atlantic Basin producers, including Brazil, Guyana, Canada and the United States, given challenges involving resource scale, financial and political conditions, hurricanes and other weather-related risks.
Rystad Energy said Gulf producers would remain essential to global energy supplies because of their vast resources, low production costs and strategic location.
The crisis, however, is adding another factor to the market equation by giving greater weight to security risks affecting supply routes.
A more resilient market
The developments point toward a gradual reorganization of the energy market rather than a fundamental shift in the global map of producers.
The shale revolution, the globalization of liquefied natural gas, the emergence of new production basins and successive geopolitical crises have reshaped energy markets at different stages.
The Hormuz crisis could similarly push the energy system toward greater diversification of supply routes, larger inventories and stronger resilience.
Under such a system, geopolitical risk would become a more significant factor in decisions involving production, investment, transportation and storage, while supply resilience would become an increasingly important component of energy value and security.
N.J/R.K
