West Asia tensions may disrupt oil supplies if attacks reach Hormuz Strait

At present, the prospects for oil are looking better for consumers like India despite the escalating hostilities

There is a 160-year history entwining wars and oil prices. During the American Civil War, which raged from 1861 to 1865, oil prices rose more than six-fold. During subsequent conflicts — two world wars, several conflicts in West Asia, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — the increases were relatively muted, but prices still more than doubled.

The current conflict, involving Iran, Israel, Hezbollah, and the United States, resembles the Second Arab-Israel war of 1956-57, when Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser seized the Suez Canal and closed it for six months, taking 10 per cent of the world's