The world has absorbed with surprising ease the loss of over a billion barrels of oil supply since the Iran war began, but, with long-term peace elusive and buffer reserves now drained, it still faces the looming risk of future price spikes, Reuters notes.
The ensuing four-month conflict did, indeed, create the biggest energy disruption in history, according to the International Energy Agency. At its worst, the headline supply loss was 14 million barrels per day.
But worries that Asia and Europe would run out of gasoline, diesel or jet fuel never materialised. And after peaking around $126 per barrel in April, still some $20 below the 2008 record benchmark Brent oil prices are now lower than they were when the conflict began.
“This suggests traders viewed the disruption as serious but manageable, reflecting confidence in today’s more resilient energy and economic systems,” said John Baffes, senior economist at the World Bank.
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