Ian Skeet obituary: Shell worker who revealed the secrets of Oman
A humane and broad-minded Arabist who did not remotely fit the stereotype of the modern oil executive, Ian Skeet was one of the few foreigners admitted to the hermit state of Muscat and Oman in the 1960s. He was also one of the few permitted to travel with comparative freedom through large tracts of its interior. Posted there by Royal Dutch Shell in 1966, he made several journeys across the country's sand deserts and arid highlands with the aim of preparing the wary tribes and sheikhs for the coming of oil.
Since his accession in 1932, Sultan Said bin Taimur had controlled almost everything in the country, personally approving visa applications, deliberately isolating the nation from the headlong development going on elsewhere in the Gulf
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BBC News
3 hours ago
- BBC News
What is the Strait of Hormuz and why does it matter?
There is considerable speculation that Iran might retaliate for the US's strikes on its nuclear facilities by closing the world's busiest oil shipping channel, the Strait of Hormuz. About 20% of global oil and gas flows through this narrow shipping lane in the Gulf. Blocking it would have profound consequences for the global economy, disrupting international trade and ratcheting up oil could also inflate the cost of goods and services worldwide, and hit some of the world's biggest economies, including China, India and Japan, which are among the top importers of crude oil passing through the strait. What is the Strait of Hormuz - and where is it? The Strait of Hormuz is one of the world's most important shipping routes, and its most vital oil transit choke to the north by Iran and to the south by Oman and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the corridor – which is only about 50km wide at its entrance and exit, and about 33km wide at its narrowest point – connects the Gulf with the Arabian Sea. The strait is deep enough for the world's biggest crude oil tankers, and is used by the major oil and gas producers in the Middle East – and their the first half of 2023 around 20m barrels of oil went through the Strait of Hormuz per day, according to estimates from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) – that's nearly $600bn worth of energy trade per oil comes not only from Iran, but also other Gulf states such as Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. What would be the impact of closing the strait? Former head of the UK's intelligence agency MI6, Sir Alex Younger, told the BBC his worst-case scenario in the ongoing Iran-Israel conflict included a blockade on the Hormuz Strait."Closing the strait would be obviously an incredible economic problem given the effect it would have on the oil price," he would be "uncharted terrain", according to Bader Al-Saif, an assistant professor at Kuwait University who specialises in geopolitics of the Arabian Peninsula. "It would have direct consequences on world markets, because you're going to look at an uptick in the oil price, [and] you're going to see the stock markets reacting very nervously to what's happening," Mr Al-Saif told BBC would, of course, hurt the Gulf countries whose economies rely heavily on energy Arabia, for instance, uses the strait to export around 6m barrels of crude oil per day - more than any neighbouring country - according to research by analytics firm Vortexa. Iran, by comparison, exports about 1.7m barrels per day, according to the International Energy Agency. Iran exported $67bn worth of oil in the financial year ending March 2025 – its highest oil revenue in the past decade – according to estimates by the Central Bank of too would be hit hard. In 2022, around 82% of crude oil and condensates (low-density liquid hydrocarbons that typically occur with natural gas) leaving the Strait of Hormuz were bound for Asian countries, according to EIA alone is estimated to buy around 90% of the oil that Iran exports to the global market. Any disruptions to that could increase fuel and production costs at a time when China is having to rely on manufacturing and exports. That's not just a domestic problem, either: rising manufacturing costs could eventually be passed on to consumers, fuelling inflation around the impact could also be outsized for other key Asian economies, which are among the biggest importers, after China. Nearly half India's crude oil and 60% of its natural gas imports pass through the Strait of Hormuz. South Korea reportedly gets 60% of its crude oil through the strait, and Japan nearly three-quarters. How could Iran close the strait? United Nations rules allow countries to exercise control up to 12 nautical miles (13.8 miles) from their means that at its narrowest point, the Strait of Hormuz and its shipping lanes lie entirely within Iran and Oman's territorial Iran were to try and block the 3,000 or so ships that sail through the strait each month, one of the most effective ways to do it, according to experts, would be to lay mines using fast attack boats and regular navy and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) navy could potentially launch attacks on foreign warships and commercial large military ships may in turn become easy targets for US air fast boats are often armed with anti-ship missiles, and the country also operates a range of surface vessels, semi-submersible craft and say Iran could block the strait temporarily, but many are equally confident that the US and its allies could swiftly re-establish the flow of maritime traffic through military means. The US has done this the late 1980s, during the eight-year Iran-Iraq war, strikes on oil facilities escalated into a "tanker war" that saw both countries attacking neutral ships to exert economic pressure. Kuwaiti tankers carrying Iraqi oil were especially vulnerable – and eventually, American warships began escorting them through the Gulf in what became the biggest naval convoy operation since World War II. Will Iran block the strait? While Iran has repeatedly threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz in past conflicts, it has never followed the closest call was during the tanker war of the late 1980s – but even then, shipping through the Strait of Hormuz was never seriously Iran delivers on its threat, this time could be Secretary of State Marco Rubio has claimed that Iran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz would amount to "economic suicide", and called on China, an ally of Tehran, to intervene."I encourage the Chinese government in Beijing to call them [Iran] about that, because they heavily depend on the Strait of Hormuz for their oil," Rubio said in an interview with Fox News on Sunday."We retain options to deal with that, but other countries should be looking at that as well. It would hurt other countries' economies a lot worse than ours." Though China is yet to respond, Beijing is highly unlikely to welcome any rise in oil prices or disruptions to shipping routes, and could leverage its diplomatic weight to dissuade the Iranian government from going ahead with the analyst Vandana Hari said Iran has "little to gain and too much to lose" from closing the Strait."Iran risks turning its oil and gas producing neighbours in the Gulf into enemies and invoking the ire of its key market China by disrupting traffic in the Strait," Hari told BBC News. Can alternative routes offset a blockade? The persistent threat of a closure of the Strait of Hormuz has, over the years, prompted oil-exporting countries in the Gulf region to develop alternative export to an EIA report, Saudi Arabia has activated its East–West pipeline, a 1,200km-long line capable of transporting up to 5m barrels of crude oil per 2019, Saudi Arabia temporarily repurposed a natural gas pipeline to carry crude United Arab Emirates has connected its inland oilfields to the port of Fujairah on the Gulf of Oman via a pipeline with a daily capacity of 1.5m July 2021, Iran inaugurated the Goreh–Jask pipeline, intended to move crude oil to the Gulf of Oman. This pipeline can currently carry around 350,000 barrels per day - although reports suggest Iran does not EIA estimates that these alternative routes could collectively handle around 3.5m barrels of oil per day - roughly 15% of the crude currently shipped through the strait.
Reuters
4 hours ago
- Reuters
Eni reducing personnel at Iraq's Zubair field as precautionary move
MILAN, June 23 (Reuters) - Eni ( opens new tab has reduced the presence of its personnel at the Zubair oil and gas field in Iraq as a precautionary move, a spokesman for the Italian energy group said on Monday. U.S. attacked key Iranian nuclear sites during the weekend, joining Israel in the biggest Western military action against the Islamic Republic since its 1979 revolution. Eni said it was monitoring the situation across the Middle Eastern region, in close coordination with authorities. Shell (SHEL.L), opens new tab and Chevron (CVX.N), opens new tab, which also have operations in Iraq, declined to comment on developments that might affect their business in the country. "Our top priority is the safety of our personnel, the communities in which we operate, the environment, and our facilities," Chevron said in an emailed comment.
Daily Mail
4 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Supertankers U-turn in Strait of Hormuz as fear grips shipping industry after Iran threatens to shut down major route in wake of US airstrikes, pushing up oil prices
Two huge supertankers U-turned in the Strait of Hormuz yesterday amid fears Iran could disrupt the global oil trade by closing the passage in response to U.S. strikes. The Coswisdom Lake and South Loyalty, each capable of transporting about two million barrels of crude, entered the passage on Sunday before abruptly changing course and leaving, according to Bloomberg. It was unclear what caused the two empty ships to head south, away from the mouth of the Persian Gulf. Analysts have been closely monitoring the strait since the U.S. bombed three nuclear facilities in Iran earlier on Sunday. Iran's parliament was reported to have backed a move to close the strait late on Sunday, threatening around a fifth of all global oil movements. Iranian state television reported that the legislature had come to an agreement, but Supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei would have to make the final decision, it said. The closure of the strait, a chokepoint between Iran and Oman, would threaten petroleum shipments from Persian Gulf countries, likely spiking prices. Oil prices jumped more than four percent early Monday, and Dutch and British wholesale gas prices rose today as markets braced for Iran's response. Analysts have warned that a decision to close the Strait would meaningfully impact global oil flows and be tantamount to a declaration of war. 'A move to close Hormuz would be an effective declaration of war against the Gulf states and the U.S.,' Eurasia senior analyst Gregory Brew told Axios. But whether Iran has the resource and will to suffocate its adversaries is unclear. 'Iran in its weakened state is unlikely to seek escalation of that kind at this time,' he added. Chris Weston at Pepperstone said Iran would be able to inflict economic damage on the world without taking the 'extreme route' of trying to close the Strait of Hormuz. 'By planting enough belief that they could disrupt this key logistical channel, maritime costs could rise to the point that it would have a significant impact on the supply of crude and gas,' he wrote. At the same time, 'while Trump's primary focus will be on the Middle East, headlines on trade negotiations could soon start to roll in and market anxieties could feasibly build'. Iran's armed forces nonetheless threatened on Monday to inflict 'serious, unpredictable consequences' on the U.S. in retaliation for its strikes on nuclear sites. 'This hostile act... will widen the scope of legitimate targets of the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran and pave the way for the extension of war in the region,' said armed forces spokesman Ebrahim Zolfaghari on state television. Ali Akbar Velayati, an adviser to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said bases used by US forces 'in the region or elsewhere' could be attacked. The US State Department issued a 'worldwide caution' for Americans on Sunday. China today warned against 'the spillover of war', urging the international community to do more to prevent the fighting from impacting the world's economy, noting the global importance of the Gulf maritime trade routes off the Iranian coast. The leaders of Britain, France and Germany have called on Iran 'not to take any further action that could destabilise the region'. At a UN Security Council emergency meeting Sunday, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned against 'descending into a rathole of retaliation after retaliation'. Asian markets traded lower today amid concerns of disruption to energy markets after the US air strikes 'obliterated' Iran's nuclear facilities on Saturday night. The dollar strengthened as traders assessed the weekend's events, with Iran threatening US bases in the Middle East as fears grow of an escalating conflict in the volatile region. Iran is the world's ninth-biggest oil-producing country, with output of about 3.3million barrels per day. It exports just under half of that amount and keeps the rest for domestic consumption. If Tehran decides to retaliate, observers say one of its options would be to close the strategic Strait of Hormuz - which carries 20 per cent of global oil output. Brent crude futures were up $1.52 or 1.97 per cent to $78.53 a barrel as of 6am UK time. US West Texas Intermediate crude advanced $1.51 or 2.04 per cent to $75.35. Both contracts jumped by more than 3 per cent earlier in the session to $81.40 and $78.40, respectively, touching five-month highs before giving up some gains. Economists at MUFG warned of 'high uncertainty of the outcomes and duration of this war', publishing a 'scenario analysis' of an oil price increase of $10 per barrel. 'An oil price shock would create a real negative impact on most Asian economies' as many are big net energy importers, they wrote, reflecting the market's downbeat mood. Tokyo's key Nikkei index was down 0.6 per cent at the break, with Hong Kong losing 0.4 per cent and Shanghai flat. Seoul fell 0.7 per cent and Sydney was 0.8 per cent lower. The dollar's value rose against other currencies but analysts questioned to what extent this would hold out. 'If the increase proves to be just a knee-jerk reaction to what is perceived as short-lived US involvement in the Middle-East conflict, the dollar's downward path is likely to resume,' said Sebastian Boyd, markets live blog strategist at Bloomberg. US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Sunday that the strikes had 'devastated the Iranian nuclear programme', though some officials cautioned that the extent of the damage was unclear.
