Overview
- Hundreds of oil and LNG carriers paused or anchored near the Strait of Hormuz after tanker owners, oil majors and trading houses suspended transits, and Greece advised ships to avoid the area.
- Iran’s Revolutionary Guard warned vessels against passage and at least two ships were reported struck near the waterway, even as Iran’s foreign minister said there is no intention to close the strait at present.
- Brent traded over the counter near $80 a barrel, about 10% above Friday’s close, and analysts warn a sustained disruption could push prices toward $100 and lift global inflation by up to 0.7 percentage points.
- OPEC+ agreed to raise output by 206,000 barrels per day starting in April, with most spare capacity in Saudi Arabia, and the International Energy Agency said markets remain well supplied for now.
- Major shippers including Maersk paused or rerouted voyages via the Cape of Good Hope, and big importers such as India prepared buffers with crude stocks for roughly 10 days and refined fuels for up to a week.