For decades, the global energy economy has functioned on the tacit assumption that the Strait of Hormuz would always remain open. That assumption has been fundamentally shaken this year. The disruption has been without precedent. The 1973 Arab oil embargo 1973 endured for five months but never resulted in the closure of the strait. During the tanker war phase of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq conflict, shipping traffic was constrained, though not completely interrupted. Likewise, the 2019 drone attacks on Saudi Arabia’s Abqaiq facility caused only a temporary disruption before supplies stabilised. In all these earlier episodes, the shock to global energy markets lasted only a short time. The present crisis, however, has extended well beyond two months and increasingly appears to be a disruption with no immediate resolution. For India, the exposure has been severe, with a significant share of crude oil imports and LPG and LNG volumes transiting through the strait.…