President Trump recently blamed Ukrainian attacks on Russian refineries for causing a spike in diesel prices, but analysts say the Iran war is probably a bigger factor.

© Jeff Chiu/Associated Press

Low rainfall and shrinking rivers are causing shipping bottlenecks, and higher prices, around the world.

© Ina Fassbender/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Low rainfall and shrinking rivers are causing shipping bottlenecks, and higher prices, around the world.

Five years after virtually every world leader agreed to “phase down” the burning of coal for climate reasons, the fuel is more widely used than ever.

© Ahmad Mulia Panjaitan/Associated Press

Five years after virtually every world leader agreed to “phase down” the burning of coal for climate reasons, the fuel is more widely used than ever.

Companies that rely on Ceva Logistics for shipping their physical goods to customers say their personal data was taken during a recent cyberattack.

Dozens of ships continued to traverse the Red Sea this week, but with scattered disruption, uncertainty about the passage grows by the hour.

© Leanne Abraham/The New York Times

Saudi Arabia has diverted huge amounts of oil to the Red Sea since the Iran war began, but now the Iranian-backed Houthi militants say that they intend to block that route.

© The New York Times

Ukrainian drone strikes have forced Russia to completely halt shipping in the Sea of Azov in less than a week, showing once again how a country without traditional naval power can still effectively blockade maritime corridors.

Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces have flown one-way attack drones to target and strike more than 100 Russian tankers and other ships in total, along with posting video evidence showing such drone strikes occurring every night between July 6 and July 14. The campaign has forced Russia to completely shut down the shipping route that flows from Russia’s Don River into the Sea of Azov, and to halt all Kerch Strait shipping transits from the Sea of Azov into the Black Sea, according to Reuters reporting.

The shutdown of such maritime lanes has further isolated the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula by cutting off seaborne delivery of fuel in particular. Crimea had already been experiencing severe fuel rationing and power outages as Ukraine stepped up its mid- and long-range drone strike campaign on Russian energy infrastructure and supply lines, leaving behind damaged oil refineries with billowing black smoke and burned-out trucks littering highways.

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Oil prices are likely to remain volatile as long as the United States and Iran are unable to resolve the status of the Strait of Hormuz.

© The New York Times

The cost of crude has become a real-time barometer of the Iran war’s toll on the global economy.

© The New York Times

For a mega-refinery in Ulsan, South Korea, a top exporter of jet fuel to the West Coast of the United States and other places, weaning off Middle Eastern oil is no small feat.

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U.S. oil production is expected to grow only modestly next year as companies hesitate to spend more in an uncertain market.

© Arathy Somasekhar/Reuters

Drivers are enjoying some relief at the pump after the United States and Iran signed an agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

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The pace of the recovery will depend on how confident companies are that the deal between the United States and Iran will hold and be extended.

© Reuters

Some analysts said the main international oil price, which was up 6 percent on Monday, could climb much higher in the coming weeks if the Strait of Hormuz doesn’t reopen.

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