Question

In a brief paragraph, how would you describe oil chokepoint? How is it pertinent to energy security?

Answer 1

World oil chokepoints are narrow channels along widely used global sea routes, some so narrow that restrictions are placed on the size of the vessel that can navigate through them. To minimize costs, tankers transport oil along established paths that are as short as possible.Many pass through a small handful of maritime chokepoints.

Chokepoints are a critical part of global energy security because of the high volume of petroleum and other liquids transported through their narrow straits.

Disruptions to these routes could affect oil prices and add thousands of miles of transit in alternative routes. By volume of oil transit, the Strait of Hormuz, leading out of the Persian Gulf, and the Strait of Malacca (linking the Indian and Pacific Oceans) are the world's most important strategic chokepoints.

International energy markets is dependent on reliable transport routes. Blocking a chokepoint, even temporarily, can lead to substantial increases in total energy costs (due to higher trasportation cost) and world energy prices. Chokepoints also leave oil tankers vulnerable to theft from pirates, terrorist attacks, political unrest in the form of wars or hostilities, and shipping accidents that can lead to disastrous oil spills. As a result these oil chokepoint are pertinent to energy security.