Gulf braces for violent night as Trump deadline on Iran looms
Power plants and oil installations on both sides of the Gulf are girding against the probability of attacks tonight as U.S. President Donald Trump’s deadline for Iran to lift its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz ticks down.
Trump said at a White House news conference on Monday that, barring Iran’s compliance, the coming U.S. air assault would ensure that every power plant in the Islamic Republic will be “out of business, burning, exploding and never to be used again.”
The President set 8 p.m. EDT (4 a.m. GST) as the deadline for Iran to open the Gulf waterway, where about 20 million barrels of oil – 20% of world demand – flowed through every day before the conflict started Feb. 28. Oil prices rose as much as 1% today, with the benchmark Brent crude reaching $1.11 a barrel, a 50% increase over the past five weeks.
Iran, in turn, rejected Trump’s ceasefire terms and said it would retaliate by attacking energy facilities in U.S.-aligned Gulf states and Israel. Oil and gas plants owned by Aramco and ADNOC have been damaged in previous Iranian attacks. Saudi Arabia said today that it intercepted seven ballistic missiles from Iran, with debris falling near energy facilities.
The head of the International Energy Agency, meanwhile, said the current oil and gas crisis is “more serious than the ones in 1973, 1979 and 2022 together.” IEA Chief Fatih Birol told Le Figaro in Paris that the countries most at risk are developing nations, which will suffer from higher oil and gas prices, higher food prices and a general acceleration of inflation.
ADNOC chief says Iran shipping disruptions amount to extortion
The head of the UAE’s national oil company said Iran’s disruption of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz amounts to extortion, as attacks and threats against vessels curb traffic through the key energy corridor.
“When Hormuz flows, energy moves and economies grow – when it is disrupted, everyone pays.” Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, Group CEO of ADNOC and the UAE’s Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, said in a LinkedIn post.
Warning that the crisis risks undermining global energy markets, Al Jaber called for international cooperation “to protect the free flow of energy and safeguard economic stability.”
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s oil exports fell by about 50% in March, dropping by roughly 3 million to 3.5 million barrels a day because of the blockade, Bloomberg reports.
The disruption has forced Saudi Aramco, the world’s biggest oil exporter, to rely on its East-West pipeline to move crude to Red Sea ports, which have capacity of roughly 5 million barrels a day, compared to normal export levels of about 7 million barrels a day.
Nuclear industry sees revival as Mideast crisis pushes oil to $100
The nuclear industry could benefit from the current bout of global energy insecurity as attacks on three more cargo ships in the Gulf push oil prices toward $100.
Boris Schucht, CEO of uranium enrichment company Urenco, told the Financial Times that a “nuclear renaissance” is underway, with the company holding a record $21.3 billion order book for uranium and fuel products.
“The supply crisis in the Middle East will refocus policymakers and industry on energy security and the need to have some form of baseload power in countries that is independent from supply threats,” Schucht said.
Analysts say the crisis is prompting governments from Europe to Japan to accelerate nuclear plans, while European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called the continent’s earlier retreat from nuclear power a “strategic mistake.”
