Pipeline Politics: The Strait of Hormuz's Dark Shadow Falls Again The East West pipeline's closure after a drone attack is just another symptom of the complex web of supply and demand issues that have long plagued global energy markets.
For decades, the Middle East has been the world's oil capital, with pipelines crisscrossing the desert sands and tankers plying the Red Sea in a delicate dance of commerce, power, and politics.
At its center lies the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway that controls access to some 20 million barrels of crude per day.