Oil Surges Past $110 as Hormuz Blocked and G7 Mulls Emergency Reserve Release

The shock echoes the 1973 Arab oil embargo, when prices quadrupled in weeks and the IEA itself was born (1974), and the 1990 Gulf War spike that briefly pushed crude above US$40 (≈US$90 today). Each crisis exposed the fragility of a system where a single chokepoint—Suez in 1956, Hormuz today—can upend supply chains. Over the last decade the world talked about shale, renewables and EVs reducing strategic vulnerability, yet 20 % of oil still squeezes through a 21-mile strait. If the Hormuz blockage persists even a month, we may see a replay of 2008’s US$147 oil, accelerating inflation and forcing importers like India, Japan and Pakistan into rationing or subsidy cuts. On a 100-year horizon this event may be remembered less for the price spike itself than for hastening diversification away from Middle-East crude—much as 1973 birthed strategic reserves and 2022’s Ukraine war turbo-charged Europe’s shift from Russian gas. Whether the current crisis cements that shift or merely adds another entry in the boom-bust ledger will hinge on how quickly alternative routes, fuels and demand-side efficiencies materialise.