energy crisis

Traders of oil futures are a sunny bunch. On April 17, after Iran’s foreign minister declared the Strait of Hormuz “completely open”, the price of Brent crude fell by 10 per cent, to $US90 ($126) a barrel. Within hours Iran reversed course and attacked an Indian tanker. The next trading day the global benchmark rose by just 5 per cent. It has gone back up above $US100 since but remains around $US15 below its high in late March, even though an American blockade has trapped even more oil in the Gulf. About fifty days into the Iran war the world has lost 550 million barrels of Gulf crude – nearly