What a Long Suez Canal Closure Means for the Oil Price
Faltering demand isn’t the only reason crude markets have been unmoved by the Suez blockage. The waterway just isn’t what it once was for oil tankers.
Somebody else’s problem.
We’re probably looking now at the longest ever accidental closure of the Suez Canal, the vital trade link from the Middle East and Asia to Europe and North America, but oil markets aren’t blinking.
The container ship Ever Given — 440 meters long, 59 meters wide and riding at a depth of 15.7 meters in the water — is stuck fast, with its bow wedged into the eastern bank of the canal and its stern in the western bank. Photos showing the vessel’s bow right up to the edge of the canal suggest that almost 50 meters of the ship are aground. Getting it free isn’t simple and could take several more days.