WE all need this war to end. And we need it to end immediately. Already the impact is being felt around the world, but in Asia in particular. In Pakistan, its real impact will hit if it lingers for a few days more, but the fuel price hike already passed, and those in store, are enough to do more damage than you want to count.

Here is a simple exercise. Take the various indices for international fuel prices: Brent, WTI, Dubai crude, and Murban (or Oman crude). Look at their prices over the month of March and you will notice two of them — Dubai and Murban (or Oman) — leaping ahead while the other two — Brent and WTI — climbing less sharply.

This is significant because the former two are fuels used across Asia (including Pakistan) while the latter two are used primarily in Western markets. Asia is the hardest-hit region in the world by the oil price and supply disruptions that the war is producing. And across Asia, countries are taking extraordinary steps to manage the fallout.

Visuals are now emerging of chaos at pumps in some parts of India and Bangladesh. Japan has authorised a release from its strategic reserves described as their “largest ever”, enough to cover 15 days of consumption. The release is larger than what it authorised after the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster in 2011, probably the single largest energy shock Japan has ever experienced.

Country after country is struggling with a fuel crisis that is only going to intensify in the days ahead.

In the........

© Dawn