Last Middle East oil shipment reaches Southern California

From ABC 7 Los Angeles

Excerpt:

Gas prices are at a four-year high and experts are warning they could climb even higher.

The final oil tanker from the Middle East has docked in Long Beach, putting the region's supply chain under pressure. According to a report from the Los Angeles Times, it's the last shipment from the Strait of Hormuz to reach California.

After that tanker leaves, it could be weeks or potentially months before the next one arrives from the Middle East.

"The war in Iran and the closing of the Strait of Hormuz has actually been buffered by the fact that all of these tankers were at sea at the time that the Strait of Hormuz closed," said UCLA Professor Michael Ross. "So all of that supply has still been making its way to consumers. This is the last shipment of that supply that was keeping prices relatively stable."

War with Iran: Global Energy Crisis Begins

Ras Laffan Industrial City in Qatar has been bombed by Iran.  This facility produces nearly 30% of the world’s liquefied natural gas (LNG).  Qatar has suffered other damage to its LNG in the past several weeks.

Here are some facts from my research:

Europe gets about 20% of its LNG from Qatar.  In particular, Germany, France and Italy all rely on Qatar since cutting off Russian gas.

Japan is already scrambling to find alternative LNG.

Cambodia just started panic-buying fuel from Singapore and Malaysia.

South Korea, India and Pakistan are all massive Qatar LNG buyers.

All of this will result in higher LNG prices, electricity bills, manufacturing costs, food costs, shipping costs, heating and cooling costs…and the list goes on.

There will be an inflation shock that central banks will have to navigate.

This will also result in currency instability and a capital flight to hard assets.

This is a global energy crisis at this point and LNG is only part of the story. Prepare accordingly.

Special thanks to a crypto expert named Chen on X, who works for Binance.