The US-Israeli war on Iran threatens global energy. How is Asia preparing? | South China Morning Post

2026-03-11 02:14:40

Abstract generation in progress

US President Donald Trump says the war on Iran may not last much longer. But across Asia, government actions are racing to shield themselves from the fallout – revealing a region gripped by anxiety that an energy shock could revive the spectre of stagflation.

Under mounting economic pressure and record oil market volatility, Trump said on Monday that the US-Israeli war on Iran could be over “very soon”, though not within the coming week.

The most exposed Asian economies – including South Korea and Japan – are heavily dependent on the Middle East for about 50 per cent of their energy imports, and some are moving to cushion themselves from turbulence.

China, the world’s second-largest oil consumer, has announced its sharpest rise in retail petrol and diesel prices since 2022, while ordering state-owned oil majors to secure stable supplies of refined products and comply with official price controls.

Beijing has spent years building up strategic oil reserves without disclosing their exact size, but Reuters reported on Thursday that analysts estimated the stockpiles at about 900 million barrels – just under three months of imports.

Japan and South Korea are also preparing defensive measures. With oil reserves covering 254 days, Tokyo had instructed national storage sites to prepare for a possible release, local news agency Kyodo News reported on Sunday.

Tokyo previously released oil during the Gulf war in the early 1990s and again following the earthquake and tsunami in northeast Japan in 2011, according to the report.

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