Episode Details

John Batchelor and Michael Bernstam analyze the revenue-sharing deal between Iran and Oman over the Strait of Hormuz, which does not resolve the critical global refinery shortage. Decades of zero Western refinery expansion, alongside Ukrainian drone strikes disabling Russian capacity, has left a global deficit of 5.6 to 6 million barrels per day of refined products. This is especially severe for diesel, which requires heavy crude unlike the light sweet crude produced by the US shale revolution. With U.S. refineries running at maximum capacity, the threat of mechanical failures risks a full-blown supply crisis. (1)