Iran warns of $200 oil as Gulf ship attacks deepen energy crisis

Tehran [Iran], March 12: Iran's military command said on Wednesday the world should be prepared for oil to hit $200 a barrel, as three more ships came under attack in the blockaded Gulf. Oil prices surged higher by more that five percent in early trading and markets have see-sawed since the end of last month, when the United States and Zionist entity attacked Iran, killed its supreme leader and plunged the Middle East into war.
As the conflict entered its 12th day, Iran vowed to target "economic centres and banks" that it deems linked to US and Zionist entity interests, and all eyes were on the Strait of Hormuz, the vital sea lane connecting Gulf oil and gas export terminals to the world economy.
So far there has been no let-up on the ground, or any sign that ships can safely sail through the Strait of Hormuz, where a fifth of the world's oil has been blockaded behind a narrow channel along the Iranian coast in the worst disruption to energy supplies since the oil shocks of the 1970s. New attacks hit three commercial ships in the Gulf on Wednesday, setting at least one vessel on fire, as Iran pressed its campaign against its energy-exporting neighbours and forced world governments to dip into their strategic oil reserves.
"Get ready for oil be $200 a barrel, because the oil price depends on regional security which you have destabilized," Ebrahim Zolfaqari, spokesperson for Iran's military command said in comments addressed to the United States.Germany will release part of its oil reserve as global energy costs soar as a result of the Middle East war, Economy and Energy Minister Katherina Reiche said Wednesday. This should help bring down the global oil price, Reiche said, noting that fellow members of the International Energy Agency (IEA) were also struggling with rising prices.
"The International Energy Agency therefore asked its member states yesterday evening to release oil reserves amounting to 400 million barrels," Reiche said. "We will comply with this request and make our contribution," she told a Berlin press conference.
Asked exactly which sorts of oil products would be released, Reiche could not say but said a total of 2.4 million tons would come out of the reserves. Germany's current total reserves amount to about 19.5 million tons, economy ministry spokeswoman Susanne Ungrad said at a later regular press briefing.
Petrol stations in Germany would meanwhile be obliged to limit their price rises for petrol and diesel to one per day, Reiche said. Past energy crises had shown that costs at the pump tended to rise rapidly with the oil price, but fall more slowly. "We have therefore decided to limit the frequency of price changes," Reiche said. "Petrol stations are only allowed to increase their fuel prices once a day. But price reductions are allowed at any time." The IEA requires its members to maintain oil reserves at all times that correspond to at least 90 days of their net imports.
Germany has so far tapped its strategic oil reserve three times, once during the Gulf War of 1990-1, after Hurricane Katrina hit US oil rigs in 2005 and then again in 2011 when the war in Libya disrupted oilexports.
Source: Qatar Tribune