{"id":28812,"date":"2026-03-15T12:08:02","date_gmt":"2026-03-15T10:08:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=28812"},"modified":"2026-03-15T12:08:02","modified_gmt":"2026-03-15T10:08:02","slug":"oil-poised-for-further-gains-as-middle-east-conflict-threatens-export-facilities","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/oil-poised-for-further-gains-as-middle-east-conflict-threatens-export-facilities\/","title":{"rendered":"Oil poised for further gains as Middle East conflict threatens export facilities"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"x_elementToProof\">US President Donald Trump threatened further \u200bstrikes on Iran&#8217;s Kharg Island oil export hub, drawing a defiant response of further retaliation \u200bfrom Tehran. Brent and US West Texas Intermediate crude futures have already spiked sharply and \u2060rattled global financial markets. Both contracts have surged more than 40% so far this month to their \u200bhighest levels since 2022 after the US-Israeli attacks on Iran prompted Tehran to halt shipping through the Strait \u200bof Hormuz, a key chokepoint for a fifth of global oil supply.<\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\" dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\">Trump has urged China, France, Japan, South Korea, Britain and others to deploy warships to secure the strategic gateway. The US struck military targets on Kharg Island on Saturday, which was swiftly \u200bfollowed by Iranian drone attacks on a key oil terminal in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).<\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\" dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\">&#8220;This marks an escalation \u200bin the conflict, until now, the region\u2019s oil infrastructure has largely been spared&#8221; JP Morgan analysts led by Natasha Kaneva said.<\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\" dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\">Besides \u200cUAE&#8217;s \u2060Fujairah, Saudi Arabia&#8217;s Ras Tanura export terminal and Abqaiq oil processing facilities have been listed as critical and highly vulnerable energy nodes in the Gulf, the analysts said. However, oil loading operations at Fujairah have resumed, a Fujairah-based industry source told Reuters on Sunday. Fujairah, outside the Strait of Hormuz, is the outlet for about 1 \u200bmillion barrels per day \u200bof the UAE&#8217;s flagship \u2060Murban crude oil, a volume equal to about 1% of world demand. Global oil supply is expected to fall by 8 million bpd in March due to disruptions \u200bto shipping while Middle Eastern producers have cut output by at least \u200b10 million bpd, \u2060according to the International Energy Agency.<\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\" dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div>&#8211;Reuters&#8211;<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":20458,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[44],"class_list":["post-28812","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Oil prices could extend gains at Monday's open as the United States (US)-Israeli war against Iran entered a third week, putting oil infrastructure at risk and keeping the Strait of Hormuz shut in the world's largest supply disruption","published_date":"2026-03-15 00:00:00","news_description":"Oil prices could extend gains at Monday's open as the United States (US)-Israeli war against Iran entered a third week, putting oil infrastructure at risk and keeping the Strait of Hormuz shut in the world's largest supply disruption","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/28812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/28812\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28813,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/28812\/revisions\/28813"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=28812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}