They’re playing with our lives when they’re making wars in the Middle East.
After Trump’s so-called peace announcement, there was no immediate resumption in oil tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.
On the contrary, it will take months to clear the mines from the strait, months to repressurise oil fields and months to conduct repairs to the damaged refineries, before gradually restarting them, then the long transport times.
The shortfalls in oil supply have been made up by taking from America’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which is rapidly diminishing. The I.E.A. target of September for ‘minimum operational storage levels’ is rapidly approaching.
Although you may be concerned about the genocide taking place in the Middle East, that doesn’t actually affect us, but stopping the oil supply will affect us.
As for the fertiliser supply, that’s a very low priority for resumption and remember, global food production is proportional to global fertiliser supply and one third of the world’s urea has been removed.
The peace deal will not avert the crisis coming later this year. And what exactly was gained from all this: US gas exports increased.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
