b"MARCH 2026American Journal ofTransportation 35Middle East O&G a casualty of conflict BREAKBULK TheUS-IsraelwarwithIranhasenvelopedtheQUARTERLYMiddle East oil producers in a conflict not of their choosing. And their O&G business looks to be one of the casualties.By George Lauriat, AJOTTheStraitofHormuz.exports will stop and the 12.5 The Strait of Hormuz is themillion bpd the region is pro-keytoaround20%oftheducing,willsuddenlydrop. worlds supply of oil and gas.Iranian oil exports are around And with the ongoing US-Is- 1.21.6 million bpd, although rael/Iran war, the oil and gasit has at times exported more orO&Gbusinessiscaughtthan 2 million bpd. The last intheconflictscrossfiretime it was in reaction to the withrepercussionsripplingJune 2025 US-Israel attack on around the globe like wavesIransnuclearsites. And(at from a tsunami. thiswriting)thewarseems Forexample,thevir- to be widening with each side tualclosureoftheStraitofupping the ante and attacking Hormuztoshiptrafficalsothe others O&G infrastructure renders the importance of the(CASUALTYcontinued on Suez Canal to nearly uselesspage 36) QatarEnergy's liquefied natural gas (LNG) production facilities, amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran. REUTERSas a link connecting Europe-to-AsiaviatheMediterra-nean Sea. Traffic through the Suez Canal in 2023, the last year of relatively unhindered nav-igationviatheSuezCanal throughtheRedSea,was 26,434 ships of 1,568,257 netSouthwest tons (NT). In 2025 this total hadbeenreducedto12,758 shipsof522,084NT.AndFloridasOrlandoin2025(likeotheryears), easily the largest type (41%) ofshipsmovingthroughGateway tothewaterwaywerecarrying O&Gcommoditieswith tankersaccountingfor39%Global TradeandLNGshipsanother2% of the total number of ships transiting the Suez Canal.Not surprisingly, the geo-graphical position of the StraitLocated at the entrance to Tampa Bay, SeaPort Manatee is one ofHormuzontheRedSeaof Floridas fastest-growing deepwater seaports, providing time-saving route, makes it also the single mostcriticalchokepointforconnections to key transportation routes I-75, I-275, and the CSX mainline.the movement of oil and gasAs the closest U.S. container seaport with multiple weekly liner services to (O&G) from the Middle EastMexico and Central America, SeaPort Manatee provides shippers and businesses toglobalmarkets.Alltoldwith strategic transportation solutions and streamlined logistics.around20%oftheworlds O&G transits the Red Sea. From breakbulk to bulk, to project cargo, containers, and 1 million square feet of Andnow[atthiswrit- cold and dry storage facilitieslet us show you why SeaPort Manatee is your global ing] with the war into its thirdsupply chain solution.week, the conflict has envel-opedotheroilandgaspro-ducing nations in the region, endangeringmoreO&G exports and igniting massive price increases of oil and oilMANATEE COUNTY PORT AUTHORITYproducts,suchasbunkers300 Tampa Bay WayPalmetto, FL 34221forships.Accordingtothe(941) 722 6621energyresearchcompanywww.SeaPortManatee.comRystadEnergy,Already,of the Middle Easts 21 million bpd pre-war base, only 12.5 millionbpdremainsatcur-rentlevels,areductionof 40% in just over two weeks. Butthe12.5millionbpd [barrels per day] figure is not secure. [Editors Italics] The USattacksonIransKharg Islandfacilities,atleastfor now, seems to have avoided targeting the islands crude oil exportinfrastructurethe countrys main oil export ter-minal.ButshouldIsrael-US tactics change and target the Khargs oil operations, a sig-nificant portion of Irans oil"