Why One Strait Controls the World’s Oil [And There’s No Real Way Around It]

Why One Strait Controls the World’s Oil [And There’s No Real Way Around It] On Thursday, February 26th, 2026, the IMF's ship tracker counted 89 ships through the Strait of Hormuz. The following Monday, it counted four. About one barrel in every five the world uses used to pass through this gap, 39 kilometres across at its narrowest. So why does one strait control the world's oil? We follow it on a 3D map: the bottle with one neck, the 1981 pipeline that first went around it, why the two back doors could carry only about a quarter of the flow, the second strait waiting at the far end of the Red Sea, how ships cross today without showing up on the trackers, and why American drivers paid a record price for diesel, even though very little of this oil ever went to America. If you enjoyed this, subscribe for the next map. Chapters 0:00 Four ships 1:04 Why one strait controls the world's oil 1:25 A bottle with one neck 2:06 1981: the first way around 2:38 The problem in one picture 3:39 What the pipes couldn't carry 4:50 The second strait 6:05 How ships cross today 6:52 What it costs 7:33 Why Americans paid a record 9:01 Can the Gulf build its way out? Sources (search the titles to find them) IMF PortWatch, daily transits through the Strait of Hormuz IEA, Strait of Hormuz factsheet and Oil Market Reports (2026) U.S. EIA, World Oil Transit Chokepoints; Short-Term Energy Outlook (October 2026); weekly retail gasoline and diesel prices International Maritime Organization (IMO), statements on seafarers stranded in the Gulf U.S. Central Command, statements on escorted transits Saudi Aramco, East-West pipeline statements; AramcoWorld (1982), the first cargo from Yanbu Kpler, ship-tracking data on Yanbu loadings and Gulf exports Marsh, war-risk insurance; Poten & Partners, tanker freight rates Strauss Center, Strait of Hormuz; U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command, the Tanker War Maritime Executive; Reuters reporting on the 2026 attacks and the Red Sea Figures are the latest available at the time of publishing (late October 2026). Where a number comes from one party, a company or a government, the video says who said it. #StraitOfHormuz #Oil #Economics #Geography #Maps