Track 06Module 2 of 56 sources
Energy, chokepoints and commodities
Know the physical routes and players behind oil, gas and metals, and what a disruption means for India.
Key ideas
- About a fifth of the world's oil passes through the Strait of Hormuz. A few narrow routes carry most seaborne energy.
- Spare capacity and inventories decide whether a supply scare becomes a price spike.
- Commodity trading houses, not producers, move most physical supply. Their incentives explain many price moves.
- For India, crude is a tax. Higher prices hurt the current account, the rupee, inflation and oil marketing margins all at once.
Start hereWatch or read these first. They carry the core idea.
Report
World Oil Transit Chokepoints
US EIA
The volumes through each maritime chokepoint, with maps. Short and essential.
Data
PortWatch: trade flows through ports and chokepoints
IMF
Live ship traffic through ports and chokepoints.
CoreThe standard references. Work through them once the idea is clear.
Book
Book
Book
Oil Above $107: What It Means For India’s Economy | Experts Decode Crude Price Shock
Video · NDTV Profit · 17:55
The India angle on high crude.
Practice
Find today's Brent price and its one-month change on the Overview. Name two Indian sectors that gain and two that lose, then check them on the Connections page.
See it live
Where this leads
05.4 · Macro and LiquidityIndia macro: the RBI, the rupee, crude and external balancesFollow Indian monetary policy and the external accounts well enough to anticipate their effect on sectors.06.4 · Geopolitics and MarketsSanctions, finance as a weapon and defenceExplain how control of financial networks becomes state power, and what that does to reserves, gold and payment systems.