The boss of TotalEnergies has warned that a long war in the Middle East could hurt economies around the world.
Speaking to CGTN, CEO Patrick Pouyanné said: “If it’s more than six months, we will have some real impacts. All the economies of the world will be damaged.”
Fighting in the region has disrupted oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most important routes for energy supplies.
Iran has effectively blocked the strait after US-Israeli strikes, stopping large amounts of oil from leaving the Gulf. Pouyanné said about 10 million barrels of oil per day are now stuck.
“And we cannot find the oil elsewhere in the planet,” he said.
In normal times, about a fifth of the world’s oil passes through this narrow waterway. It is also a key route for gas exports, especially from Qatar.
Pouyanné said the world can cope for now by using stored oil. “If this conflict lasts three, four months, we can swallow it. Today we manage to amortise this shock because we have inventories,” he said.
But he warned that if the war goes on for longer, those запасes will run low and problems will grow.
Higher energy prices could follow, pushing up the cost of living and slowing down economic growth.
“So again, I hope we’ll find solutions quickly for this war,” he said.
