The push to bypass Hormuz

(Emily Peck – Axios) The oil market’s top players aren’t waiting around to see who winds up with control over the Strait of Hormuz — countries and companies are scrambling to bypass the waterway. The Iran war threw a spotlight on the strait as the longtime center of the global energy trade, and the industry now has a huge incentive to reduce its dependence, regardless of the war’s outcome. “The 2026 U.S.-Iran war and Strait of Hormuz disruption may ultimately be remembered less for triggering an immediate oil crisis than for accelerating global efforts to reduce dependence on the world’s most important energy chokepoint,” Bloomberg Intelligence analysts wrote in a report. The ceasefire agreement between the U.S. and Iran is quickly unraveling. On Monday, President Trump said the U.S. would reinstate its blockade of Iran in the strait and proposed charging other countries 20% of the value of cargo shipped through it. The threat may not actually materialize — the International Maritime Organization says there’s no legal basis for a toll — but it certainly gives producers even more incentive to figure out alternative shipment methods. Trump’s remarks helped send oil up by more than 9%. The price of a barrel of benchmark Brent crude oil is at $86.57 — it fell below $70 after the ceasefire was announced. – How oil producers are bypassing the Strait of Hormuz