Japan’s energy security has long hinged on Middle Eastern oil. The Iran war simply exposed how breakable that lifeline had become. While a two-week ceasefire agreed on Tuesday promises some relief by reopening the Strait of Hormuz to tanker traffic, analysts say the shock has laid bare vulnerabilities Tokyo cannot easily paper over. As an archipelago nation with no cross-border pipelines, Japan draws more than 95 per cent of its crude from the Middle East and routes the bulk of it through the...
Singapore and Australia pledged on Friday to keep fuel and gas flowing between them as the Middle East conflict rattled global energy markets, with both sides also working towards a legally binding agreement on essential supplies. At a joint press conference in Singapore, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Canberra stood ready to supply more liquefied natural gas (LNG) if the city state needed it, while Albanese’s Singaporean counterpart Lawrence Wong said his government would...