HOUSTON—The longer ships remain trapped inside the Persian Gulf and oil tankers stack in the Arabian Sea, the more likely Gulf states will reach a deal with Iran to allow commerce to resume in the Strait of Hormuz, global market and insurance analysts said in a March 24 CERAWeek by S&P Global forum.
“Iran already controls the strait,” said Paul Sankey, lead financial analyst with Brooklyn-based Sankey Research. “My suggestion is, ultimately, maybe, the U.S. has to pull out of the region and leave it to the GCC [Gulf Cooperation Council] and Iran.”
The United States gets little oil and no gas from the Persian Gulf, although the nation’s manufacturers are, to varying degrees, reliant on petrochemicals, minerals, and other refined products from the region. Farmers worldwide, including in the United States, import fertilizer materials from the Gulf….