HOUSTON, March 26 (Reuters) – U.S. officials this week said the historic spike in fuel prices during the war in Iran will be short-term and trumpeted record U.S. production at an industry conference where oil executives and government officials \u200bfrom Asia, the Middle East and Europe bemoaned the worst oil and gas supply disruption in decades.<\/p>\n
The contrasting messages relayed to industry leaders at the annual CERAWeek conference in Houston reflected \u200cthe different political realities in the U.S. and the rest of the world.<\/p>\n
U.S. cabinet members said American consumers could absorb a temporary price shock. Their effort to project calm reflected the political stakes for President Donald Trump, who has slid in the polls even as he repeatedly said the war is already won and promised the financial pain will be short-lived.<\/p>\n
Still, Iran has continued hitting its neighbors with missile and drone strikes while keeping the Strait of Hormuz closed to shipping, halting a fifth of global oil and gas supplies. Global \u200boil prices have spiked above $100 a barrel.<\/p>\n
Supply disruptions have already slowed the global economy. Some countries in Asia dependent on Middle East oil face fuel shortages and are taking steps such as work-from-home directives. \u200bEurope is bracing for shortages to hit next month.<\/p>\n
The impact of the war on energy supplies would last much longer than the conflict itself, executives said, because \u2060of damage inflicted on oil and gas infrastructure by Iran in response to the U.S.-Israeli attacks.<\/p>\n
Trump’s approval rating has slumped to its lowest point since he returned to the White House, a Reuters\/Ipsos poll found, as many Americans have blanched at \u200bsurging fuel prices and disapproved of the war on Iran. Trump’s Republican Party faces a fight to retain slim majorities in the U.S. Congress in November’s midterm elections. The issue of affordability has emerged as a central theme.<\/p>\n
\u201cMarkets do what markets do,\u201d U.S. Energy \u200bSecretary Chris Wright said in the keynote address at the conference. \u201cPrices went up to send signals to everyone that can produce more, please, produce more. The prices have not risen high enough yet to drive meaningful demand destruction.”<\/p>\n
Wright touted expanding U.S. liquefied natural gas exports, efforts to keep coal power plants from retiring and plans to cut red tape for new nuclear projects.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery day our mission remains clear: grow energy, improve American lives, strengthen American security and strengthen the world,\u201d Wright said.<\/p>\n
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum acknowledged the \u200bhigher fuel prices were impacting Americans but said it would be short-term.
“President Donald Trump is super empathetic, as we all are, about the fact that there\u2019s been a temporary increase in pricing,” Burgum said at an event \u200bon the sidelines of the conference.<\/p>\n
Executives and officials from other countries said the global energy system was in crisis and that high prices would not come down as quickly as Trump predicts even if the conflict ends.<\/p>\n
Americans have not faced an immediate fuel shortage \u200clike those afflicting \u2060economies across Asia. Still, surging U.S. gasoline pump prices have exposed American consumers to price rises on the global oil market that have priced in shortages. Higher fuel prices are also pushing up the cost of food and consumer goods.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is raising the cost of living for those who can least afford it and slowing economic growth everywhere. From factories to farms to families around the world, the human cost is mounting by the day,\u201d Sultan Al Jaber, CEO of Abu Dhabi\u2019s state-run energy giant ADNOC, told attendees via videolink from the United Arab Emirates.<\/p>\n
The UAE, like its Gulf neighbors, has been hit by Iranian missiles and drones and has had to cut oil production \u200bbecause it cannot export through the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n
Asian \u200bcountries dependent on Middle East energy imports already face \u2060shortages of fuel and gas. Officials of Asian governments are weighing work-from-home policies and stimulus measures last enforced during the COVID pandemic.<\/p>\n
Emergency efforts were “not enough” to ease market strain, said Takehiko Matsuo, Japan’s Vice Minister for International Affairs.<\/p>\n
Japan has asked the International Energy Agency for an additional release from strategic petroleum reserves. Tokyo also is tapping cash reserves to subsidize soaring gasoline prices and \u200bis considering intervening in oil futures markets to shore up the yen.<\/p>\n
The Philippines declared a state of emergency. The country had just 45 days of oil supply \u200bas of March 20.<\/p>\n
South Korea has \u2060asked people to cut shower time, charge phones during the day and run vacuums on weekends.<\/p>\n
The fuel supply shortages would spread to Europe in April if the conflict continues, Shell CEO Wael Sawan said.<\/p>\n
\u201cCountries cannot have national security without energy security,\u201d Sawan said at the conference.<\/p>\n
Consultancy Rystad Energy estimates that war damage to refineries, LNG and other facilities could cost $25 billion to repair. Even undamaged infrastructure would take months to restart. Kuwait would take three to five months to get \u2060crude production back \u200bto pre-war levels, Kuwait Petroleum CEO Sheikh Nawaf Saud Al-Sabah said.<\/p>\n
“It will take time to come out of this,” Chevron CEO Mike \u200bWirth said Monday, noting that the energy market\u2019s tightness from the Strait of Hormuz closure has not yet been fully reflected in forward oil prices.<\/p>\n
The industry also warned that the U.S. cannot quickly ramp up oil or gas output to offset the disruption. Shale producers said \u200bprices above $100 a barrel would need to stay elevated for months before companies consider boosting drilling, as most operators have already locked in spending plans for the year.<\/p>\n
Reporting by Jarrett Renshaw; Editing by Simon Webb and David Gregorio<\/p>\n
Disclaimer:\u00a0The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Kitco Metals Inc. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Kitco Metals Inc. nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Kitco Metals Inc. and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and\/ or damages arising from the use of this publication.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON, March 26 (Reuters) – U.S. officials this week said the historic spike in fuel prices during the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":349287,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[7475,7466,138,7470,7471,7465,5261,7468,219,7467,7469,5617,4241,7474,594,7456,7476,7462,7477,7464,111,139,69,7459,7460,7458,7461,135,7463,7473,7478,7457,7472,5262],"class_list":["post-349286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-bank-forecasts","tag-bitcoin-news","tag-business","tag-central-banks","tag-charts","tag-crypto-news","tag-currency","tag-economic-reports","tag-economy","tag-ethereum-news","tag-forecasts","tag-global-economy","tag-gold","tag-international-policy","tag-interviews","tag-kitco-news","tag-market-nugget","tag-metals","tag-mining-minutes","tag-mining-news","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-palladium","tag-pgm","tag-platinum","tag-platinum-group-metals","tag-politics","tag-precious-metals","tag-rare-earth-metals","tag-roundups","tag-silver","tag-tech-metals","tag-us-dollar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=349286"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349286\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/349287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=349286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=349286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=349286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}