Energy expert warns of looming price surges 'in every single material around the world'

Record ID: 2368175

  • Title: Energy expert warns of looming price surges 'in every single material around the world'
  • Date: 22nd March 2026
  • Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (MARCH 22, 2026) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) REUTERS EMEA ENERGY AND COMMODITIES EDITOR, DMITRY ZHDANNIKOV, SAYING:     "It's probably the most significant crisis since the Arab oil embargo in the 70s. And every day it continues, it's actually looking—beginning to look—even more dramatic. So unless this kind of stops somehow miraculously
  • Embargoed:
  • Keywords: Energy Iran Israel Strait of Hormuz USA desalination gas oil
  • Location: VARIOUS
  • City: VARIOUS
  • Country: UK
  • Topics: Commodities Markets,Europe,Economic Events
  • Reuters ID: LVA002636722032026RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has triggered what experts describe as the most significant energy crisis since the 1970s Arab oil embargo, threatening to send prices for everything from fuel to food spiralling out of control.
    "Unless this kind of stops somehow miraculously in the next few days, we're going to see a very big jump in prices in every single material around the world, from energy to food, because actually farmers depend on fertilisers and there's a lot of fertilisers that are being produced in the region," Reuters EMEA Energy and Commodities Editor Dmitry Zhdannikov said.
    "There's a lot of scarcity which is coming our way if it doesn't stop fairly quickly," he added.
    More than 2,000 people have been killed during the war the U.S. and Israel launched on February 28, which has upended markets, spiked fuel costs, fuelled global inflation fears and convulsed the postwar Western alliance.
    Trump threatened overnight to "obliterate" Iran's power plants if Tehran did not fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours, barely a day after he talked about "winding down" the war. He made the new threat as U.S. Marines and heavy landing craft are heading to the region.
    The bottleneck centres on the Strait of Hormuz, a vital artery through which 20% of the world’s oil transits.
    The supply shock has been exacerbated by extensive physical damage to energy infrastructure across Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, and the UAE.
    Industry leaders, including QatarEnergy CEO Saad al-Kaabi, have warned that even a swift reopening of the waterway would not provide an immediate fix, with some gas supply commitments to Europe and Asia potentially disrupted for three to five years.
    Zhdannikov said energy industry leaders are not willing to risk passing the Strait with any potential security convoys, saying they are instead looking for a comprehensive deal that ends the fighting.
    (Production: Abisoye Adelusi, Mussab Al-Khairalla)
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