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An editorial summarizes growing conflict: “While the war with Iran continues to escalate, the Houthis have enacted their own naval blockade, this time in the Bab al-Mandab Strait. Saudi Arabia is officially boxed in on both sides. Oil is back over $100 a barrel. Roughly one-fifth of the world’s seaborne oil traffic was carried through the Strait of Hormuz. It’s been running at close to 89% interdiction since Iran began enforcing its closure back in February. The Bab al-Mandeb Strait may be smaller, but total petroleum volumes transiting the strait hit 7.4 million barrels per day in June—about 7% of global output, and nearly double what it carried a year earlier as Saudi exports flooded through it. As much as a quarter of the world’s oil and gas supply now sits behind two closed doors. At the same time. To be clear, that has never happened before in the modern history of energy markets. Along with the consistent strikes against oil tankers, the conflict has escalated in the last few days as Iran has repeatedly struck power and desalination infrastructure across Gulf states that aren’t even combatants in this fight. Kuwait has had power and water plants hit multiple times since the war began—most recently on July 17th, when a strike sparked fires across several electricity-generating units and forced officials to urge citizens to ration power. Bahrain’s desalination infrastructure was damaged by drone attack back in March. In fact, Iran has openly warned that if the U.S. strikes its national power grid, Gulf desalination plants become fair targets in return. The stakes behind that threat are hard to overstate. The Gulf produces roughly 40% of the world’s desalinated water, spread across hundreds of coastal plants. Kuwait, Qatar, and Bahrain depend on desalination for up to 99% of their drinking water. Without those plants running, cities of millions have no alternative water supply.” The threat of a wider war seems to be playing out. What is Creator’s perspective? Will the power outages start soon or is the plan to keep ramping up the ongoing war in the Middle East?74 views0 answers0 votes
Nicola