The world has survived energy crises before. The oil shock of 1973, the Iranian Revolution of 1979, the financial turmoil of 2008, and the prolonged instability that has shaken global oil and gas markets since 2014 each produced their own combination of inflation, market volatility, geopolitical tension and economic disruption.

But the energy shock generated by the wars in Ukraine and Iran is different in both scale and geopolitical consequence. These conflicts are not merely disrupting supplies. They are exposing the structural vulnerabilities of an energy system built on fragile supply chains, concentrated refining capacity, inadequate strategic reserves and assumptions about geopolitical stability that are rapidly becoming obsolete.

Britain is now one of the clearest examples.

The numbers are increasingly difficult to ignore. UK diesel prices recently reached a record average of 200.01 pence ($2.67) per liter, according to the figures cited in the source material. That represents a staggering increase of 56.8 pence, or 40.5 percent, since the beginning of the Iran war in late February. The previous record-199.09 pence-was reached in June 2022, following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Petrol prices have also surged, reaching 174.71 pence per liter, roughly 42 pence higher than at the beginning of the Iran conflict.

This is not simply an unpleasant development for motorists. Diesel is the bloodstream of modern economies. Trucks, agricultural machinery, construction equipment, shipping operations, logistics networks and countless industrial activities depend on it. When diesel prices rise sharply, transportation costs rise. When transportation costs rise, food, manufactured goods and services become more expensive. Inflation then spreads throughout the economy.

That is precisely why the present crisis deserves to be understood as a geopolitical crisis rather than merely an energy-market fluctuation.

Oil prices have already demonstrated the scale of the problem. A barrel of crude reached $111.54 in March, approaching the $114.38 level recorded in May 2022. Meanwhile, disruptions to refining capacity in Russia and the Middle East........

© Blitz