Photo – Groww Digest
The oil and gas crisis in India and across the world continues to deepen. Especially, LPG which is used for cooking by a large population is in short supply. India gets most of its LPG from Qatar, which relies on the Strait of Hormuz to ship its oil and gas to the world. Most other countries in West Asia too have to pass through this narrow strip of waters to ship their oil and gas across the world. Currently, as a result of the ongoing conflict between Iran and US-Israel, Iran has blockaded the Strait of Hormuz. Any ship passing through Hormuz risks potential attack. Hence, there are hundreds of ships stalled before the Straight. As result of non supply of oil and gas, there is large crisis of unavailability of these energy resources.
Trump had sent a call for the US allies, especially NATO countries and others to send their warships to free the Strait of Hormuz from the blockade. However, most countries are not enthusiastic about getting involved in the war. EU has shown a disinclination towards escalation of war around Hormuz. France and UK have said they are looking at all options and would consider sending escort ships if the conflict de-escalates. Japan and China have said they would like the war to de-escalate. NATO has said that this is not NATO’s war. They didn’t start it.
Most countries would prefer to go for diplomatic strategy to get the Straight of Hormuz reopened.
It should be noted that China gets a very large share of the Iranian oil and gas exports. Hence, China would naturally not go for an escalation of conflict with Iran.
Another country that gets Iranian oil and gas and has enjoyed a historical-cultural relation with Iran is India. Again, India has actually engaged in diplomatic talks with Iran and the Indian Foreign Minister has said he has got some success in getting at least 2 oil and gas carrier ships past the Straight of Hormuz. However, he also noted that every Indian flag bearing ship has to individually negotiate its passage with Iran. This is not a blanket passage granted to Indian flag bearing ships. There are hundreds of Indian flag bearing carriers stalled before Hormuz. At the time of writing, there is some report of a third Indian flag bearing ship reaching Indian shores.
Iran has been sending mixed communications about allowing ships to pass through Hormuz. Earlier, a spokesperson for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) had warned that any ship attempting to cross Hormuz would be attacked. Recently, an Iranian Minister has said that Strait of Hormuz is “Open but closed to enemies.”
Seeing the situation, most countries don’t want to aggravate the situation further. Meanwhile, maritime intelligence agencies have noted that in recent days, 9-10 ships have managed to trickle through the Strait of Hormuz, as compared to 4-5 number in earlier weeks. Most of these are ships bearing flags of China, India and Pakistan. There is also a report of at least 1 Turkish flag bearing ship getting the passage through Hormuz.
Iran has meanwhile attacked the oil bases of UAE, which may further aggravate the conflict. Many ships have attempted to detour and offload their tankers across land routes through Saudi Arabia and reload at Oman ports. This situation will obviously take time to ease up.
The biggest loser in all this conundrum is Asia, which is short in oil and gas resources and most countries of Asia are not involved in this conflict.
Perhaps India can consider increasing its purchase of oil and gas from Oman, which has ports on its southern coast, which is not touched by this conflict. Oman is already an oil and gas exporter to India. Perhaps India can increase this volume to get the country out of this crisis.
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