With Hormuz hobbled and a Saudi pipeline offline, global mechanisms 'have largely now played out'
Posted Sep 15, 2026 6:31 AM CDT
Oil executives have been warning this was coming, and now they say it's arrived: With the Strait of Hormuz effectively shut and a key Saudi pipeline knocked offline, industry leaders like Chevron CEO Mike Wirth contend that the global system has burned through its safety nets, reports the Wall Street Journal, pushing crude near $101 a barrel and diesel to a record $6.23 a gallon. The damaged Saudi pipeline alone, which was being used to bypass the Strait of Hormuz, took 2.5 million gallons a day off the table, and is expected to be offline for weeks, notes the AP. "All these mechanisms helped to mitigate the price and supply risk," Wirth says. "Those have largely now played out."
Wirth says it's hard to see prices easing soon, even as Interior Secretary Doug Burgum calls it a "temporary" disruption and leans on Venezuela and US refiners to boost supply. Trump, who has not spoken with Wirth since early August, has publicly demanded lower prices while vowing more economic pressure on Iran and rejecting the idea of sending in US troops. Energy advisers fear that a long conflict, tight diesel supplies, and China's decision to renew buying instead of relying on its own reserves will keep the squeeze on consumers. With Trump signaling the war will stretch past the midterms, "that was the signal this is going to stretch on," says one.