What a question! Is that your response? The answer is so obvious. Is that what you feel? Well, do wait, please! Think through! As it is, critical thinking is going to dominate the AI dominated future!
Obviously, it may seem that the main players in this context would be the oil producing countries. Actually, they hardly do! It is a natural produce. They have the cleverly structured, rather well-'oil'ed machinery to dreg it out. Hence the obvious candidates would be the middle-eastern companies, Venezuela, Russia, Canada, the U.S., and so on.
Next comes the question of the distribution of the oil barrels. Hence enters in to the picture the w(e)ary Hormuz Strait. In addition to the usual and/or current warmongers, this narrow sea route is endangered by the pirates and, most importantly, by the militant factions. All these 'actors' want 'agency' (in every sense of this term) in here, because this sea route is a proper milch cow.
Now this clue should lead you to the real reason behind the oil crisis. Oil tankers, which ferry oil across, are huge. Building them costs lots of money. They carry combustible and precious cargo. Inevitable hence it is that they would be heavily insured. The premium is huge and astronomical is the reimbursement in case of an accident.
Given this fact, which ship owner would be ready to enter the strait without insurance? And, all of us know insurance companies, right? They have thousand sub-, sub- clauses in extremely fine print which would render impossible the payment of costs covered in case a tanker sinks, whatever be the reason, storms or the super smart pirates et al, no insurance company would advise shipping companies to ply their ships via this route, right?
To cut a long story short, the current crisis is more the handiwork of the ever cautious insurance agencies. I read yesterday that all of them form a cluster in London. In brief, London, rather than the Middle East, is the hot spot leading to the current oil crisis!
Pratima@The "f" word after all! Oh, no, do not run away wild with your dirty imaginations. The 'f' word refers to finance which is trans-national, beyond the boundaries imposed by the silly Lilliput nation states. We might talk of post globalization era right now. Yet the TNC/MNC insurance companies and/or the weapon industries, nowhere and yet everywhere, decide the destinies in the post-LPG (no, this abbreviation does not refer to any oil company. Instead, remember the natty nineties!) scenario!
Quote of the day: "The consumer is both the culprit and the victim," says Nino Cerrutti. Especially, in the post-LPG world governed by the TNC/MNC finance empires!
The word of the day: finance Finance is the study, science, and management of money, assets, and liabilities, focusing on how individuals, businesses, and governments raise, allocate, and use funds.
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