Click here: to donate by Credit Card
Or here: to donate by PayPal
Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794
Thank you very much and God bless you.
Posted on 03/05/2026 5:05:00 PM PST by SeekAndFind
A widening Middle East conflict has posed a fresh test for global central banks, as fears of an oil shock and renewed inflation risks complicate policymakers’ calculus for shoring up growth.
Crude prices soared on Monday after the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran over the weekend, killing Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Hosseini Khamenei. Tehran responded with missile attacks targeting multiple Gulf countries.
Tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most critical chokepoint for oil shipments, has effectively stalled as the threat of attacks from Iran deterred vessels from passing through the waterway.
Brent crude prices extended four days of gains, rising 1.6% to $82.76 a barrel on Wednesday, hovering near the highest level since January 2025. The U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude prices also rose for a third day to $75.48.
Higher energy prices would ultimately filter through to consumer and producer prices, particularly for economies that rely heavily on Middle East oil imports, leaving central banks scrambling to reassess their interest rate trajectory.
“The ongoing Iran conflict solidifies the case for many central banks to hold rates steady for now,” a team of economists at Nomura said in a note on Sunday.
The European Central Bank is caught in what ING economists called a “genuine dilemma,” as an oil shock could push already sticky inflation higher while its growth outlook weakens under the strain of higher U.S. tariffs. They added that “to see a rate hike, the eurozone economy would have to show clear resilience.”
(Excerpt) Read more at cnbc.com ...
|
|
Click here: to donate by Credit Card Or here: to donate by PayPal Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794 Thank you very much and God bless you. |
The U.S.-Iran war has pushed oil prices higher, prompting Goldman Sachs economists to model the potential economic fallout. According to the bank, every $10 increase in oil prices could shave roughly 0.1 percentage point off U.S. GDP growth by the fourth quarter of 2026 if prices remain elevated.
That may sound small, but analysts warn that crude could surge back above $100 a barrel if the conflict escalates, creating a more meaningful drag on growth.
Hormuz: By the numbers
Iran has issued a de facto closure against the strait, and the scale of the risk is enormous. According to Apollo:
About 20 million barrels of oil per day move through Hormuz, or about 20% of global petroleum consumption
Alternative pipelines in the region move only about 3 million barrels per day
The strait also carries roughly 20% of the global liquefied natural gas (LNG) trade, making it just as critical for natural gas markets
Recent disruptions have pushed tanker charter rates above $400,000 per day, a surge that signals how quickly shipping flows can tighten when the route is threatened.
And the impact isn’t limited to gasoline or diesel. Oil is a core input for transportation, fertilizer production, plastics, chemicals, and manufacturing, meaning price spikes can ripple across the global economy.
The “shut-in” clock
The Strait of Hormuz is primarily used by Gulf exporters — Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait, the UAE, and Qatar — shipping oil to Asia, particularly China, India, Japan, and South Korea.
If the strait remains blocked long enough, those producers face something even worse than delayed shipments.
They face “shut-ins.”
A shut-in occurs when oil companies are forced to stop pumping entirely because storage tanks are full and exports are blocked.
According to Bloomberg estimates, this is how many days producers can operate before being forced to shut in if Hormuz remains closed:
Iraq: 6 days
Kuwait: 14 days
UAE: 16–19 days
Qatar: 20 days
Saudi Arabia: 36–65 days
📌 Bottom line: Hormuz isn’t just a shipping bottleneck… it’s a global oil kill switch. If the strait stays closed long enough for producers to start shutting in wells, the market could lose a meaningful chunk of global supply within weeks — and in Iraq’s case, within days.
Why not put in a “temporary” pipeline?
So when the NWO forces the world to accept their digital currency and then their mainframe controlling computers get blown up, then what? I’m sure they will have their wealth covered by as for the rest of the world, good effing luck. You’ll be on your own and you won’t own or have anything. That’s just the way they want it and that’s exactly how they will achieve their goal. I could be wrong but I doubt it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.