Shafaq News- Vancouver

The closure of the Strait of Hormuz in March 2026 triggered the largest oil supply shock on record, cutting global supplies by about 10.1 million barrels per day (bpd) and far surpassing disruptions from major wars and oil crises over the past five decades, according to a ranking published by Visual Capitalist.

The Hormuz disruption was about 80% larger than the estimated 5.6 million-bpd supply loss during the Iranian Revolution between November 1978 and April 1979, which ranked second.

The Arab oil embargo and Iraq’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait ranked third and fourth, respectively, with each disruption reducing global oil supplies by about 4.3 million bpd.

Iran-Iraq war followed in fifth place, with losses of 4.1 million bpd between October 1980 and January 1981.

The 2003 Iraq war ranked sixth, reducing supplies by about 2.3 million bpd between March and December. Libya’s civil war in 2011 came seventh, with a loss of roughly 1.5 million bpd.

Hormuz, through which roughly 20% of the world’s oil passes, has remained largely closed under Iranian restrictions since Feb. 28, following the start of the US-Israeli war and disrupting regional energy flows. The corridor briefly reopened after a US-Iran memorandum of understanding (MoU) took effect on June 18, but closed again amid renewed military escalation, with Tehran maintaining that the waterway remains under Iranian control.

Read more: Cargo transit through Hormuz plunges near total halt