Top headline and map: NPR
Bottom headline: New York Times
Jane Arraf reports for NPR:
The U.S. has announced new economic sanctions aimed at loosening Iran's hold on the Strait of Hormuz while counting on Middle East oil producers to quickly build new pipelines bypassing the key shipping route. But energy analysts say replacing shipping capacity through new infrastructure anytime soon is unlikely. The result is expected to be continued higher prices for consumers.
"What we are going to see over the next two years — the strait is going to become irrelevant," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told an NBC affiliate earlier this month, adding that 50% to 70% of energy products normally shipped through the Strait of Hormuz would be transported through underground pipelines. "It is going to become just another body of water."
The shutdown of the East-West pipeline risks keeping 4 percent of the world’s oil supply from reaching international markets and driving energy prices even higher.
Saudi Arabia on Friday said it had temporarily shut the pipeline after it was struck by an Iran-backed militia. The pipeline, a 750-mile network that transports crude across Saudi Arabia to ports on the Red Sea, had been the kingdom’s primary way of exporting oil since the war in Iran began in February.
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