Balancing its ability to cause chaos in the global oil markets by closing/disrupting the Strait of Hormuz (through which flows around 35 per cent of the world’s oil supplies) with the necessity to keep its own oil exports revenues to Asia rolling in, Iran has moved exceptionally quickly on developing its Bandar-e-Jask port project. Crucially, Jask is not located in the perennially risky Strait of Hormuz but south-southeast in the Gulf of Oman. This offers a relatively risk-free shipping transit route to Iran’s key markets in the East, especially China and more latterly India, and to markets further south in Africa on a more occasional basis. According to recent comments from Touraj Dehqani, chief executive officer of Iran’s Petroleum Engineering and Development Company (PEDEC) – the company in charge of building the project out, in tandem with the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) – the first full phase of […]