Turkish energy minister: War-induced energy crisis likely to continue

Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar has warned that global energy supply disruptions caused by the ongoing Middle East conflict are likely to persist.

In televised remarks on Monday, Bayraktar said Türkiye had not yet experienced supply disruptions despite the conflict between Iran, Israel and the U.S., now in its third month.

However, he cautioned that the prolonged closure of the Strait of Hormuz and the United Arab Emirates’ recent withdrawal from OPEC would likely increase uncertainty.

“And uncertainties bring risks,” the energy minister said.

Roughly 20% of the world’s oil - along with a significant share of liquefied natural gas - passes through the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran has begun charging transit fees on oil tankers crossing the waterway.

The U.S. has rejected the toll-charging scheme and has threatened to resume attacks on Iran if vessels stranded in the Persian Gulf are not allowed to transit the strait freely.

Bayraktar said the crisis was global in nature, adding that even if the conflict ended tomorrow, a “trust deficit” between the warring parties - alongside damage to energy infrastructure - would take years to repair.

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‘Era of crises’

The world is now living in an “era of crises,” Bayraktar said, citing unprecedented supply chain disruptions, sharp rises in commodity prices and mounting regional instability - the latter of which he attributed to increasingly aggressive actions by Israel.

He also pointed to Washington’s policy of maintaining what he described as “energy dominance,” noting recent developments involving Venezuela and other major oil exporters.

U.S. actions, Bayraktar said, do not appear to be driven by domestic political factors, but rather by a strategy to maintain control over energy markets - the effects of which are likely to become apparent in the coming period.

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News Türkiye energy crisis Iran war Energy prices