The International Energy Agency says the conflict has caused the largest oil supply disruption ever, with flows through a key strait at less than 10% of normal levels.
PARIS: The International Energy Agency has declared the ongoing Middle East conflict is creating the largest supply disruption in the history of the global oil market.
In its latest market report, the IEA said crude oil production is currently down by at least 8.0 million barrels per day, with an additional 2.0 million barrels per day of petroleum products and condensates also shut off.
The conflict, triggered by American-Israeli attacks on Iran, is severely hampering the global economy’s oil supply and weakening production capacity.
Iran has tightened its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, a vital transit point through which a fifth of global crude passes, reducing supplies to a trickle.
The IEA stated current flows through the strait are moving at less than 10% of pre-crisis levels, which in 2025 were around 15 million barrels per day, with “no signs of a de-escalation in hostilities or a clear timeline for a recovery in flows through the Strait.”
It stressed that a resumption of flows would be key in minimising the war’s impact on global markets.
Against that stark backdrop, major European stock markets were off more than half of one percent in early morning trading.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei had shed one percent at the close while Hong Kong closed off 0.7 percent.
A threat from Tehran to bring down the global economy overshadowed an impending record release of strategic crude by the IEA.
The agency said its 32 members had agreed to unlock 400 million barrels of oil from reserves, their largest release ever.
“The co-ordinated emergency stock release provides a significant and welcome buffer, but in the absence of a swift resolution to the conflict, it remains a stop-gap measure,” the IEA warned.