JPMorgan predicts oil supplies from Iraq and Kuwait will halt within days.
JPMorgan predicts oil supplies from Iraq and Kuwait will halt within days.
2026-03-04 00:04
Shafaq News – Follow-up
Analysts at JPMorgan Chase predicted that crude oil supplies from Iraq and Kuwait could start to shut down within days if the Strait of Hormuz remains closed, potentially leading to a 3.3 million barrel per day drop in supplies by the eighth day of the latest conflict in the Middle East.
Reuters quoted the bank as saying that Iraq and Kuwait have approximately three days and 14 days respectively before they are forced to halt crude oil exports passing through the strait.
The Strait of Hormuz is a narrow waterway of great strategic importance that connects the Persian Gulf to the north with the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea to the south. It is one of the most important oil transit routes in the world, as about one-fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas flows pass through it.
JPMorgan stated that if the shutdown is prolonged, the reduction in oil supplies could worsen to 3.8 million barrels per day by the fifteenth day and 4.7 million barrels per day by the eighteenth day of the conflict.
Two Iraqi oil officials told Reuters that Iraq would be forced to cut its oil production by more than three million barrels per day within a few days if oil tankers could not move freely through the Strait of Hormuz and reach loading ports.
US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that the US Navy could begin escorting oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz if necessary.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard announced on Wednesday that it had “complete” control of the Strait of Hormuz, which is of great importance to global oil trade.
The Iranian Fars News Agency quoted Mohammad Akbarzadeh, a senior naval official in the Revolutionary Guard, as saying that “the Strait of Hormuz is currently under the complete control of the Revolutionary Guard’s naval force.”
shafaq.com
