Located between Oman and Iran, the Strait of Hormuz connects the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea.

Hormuz is the world’s most important oil choke-point due to its daily oil flow of 15.5 million barrels.

Flows through the Strait in 2009 are roughly 33 percent of all seaborne traded oil or 17 percent of oil traded worldwide.

On average, 13 crude oil tankers per day passed eastbound through the Strait with a corresponding amount of empty tankers entering westbound to pick up new cargo.

At its narrowest point, the Strait is 21 miles wide, but the width of the shipping lane in either direction is only two miles, separated by a two-mile buffer zone.

The Strait is deep and wide enough to handle the world’s largest crude oil tankers, with about two-thirds of oil shipments carried by tankers in excess of 150,000 deadweight tons.

To traverse the Strait, ships pass through the territorial waters of Iran and Oman.

So… how much would the price of oil and gasoline soar to ‘if’ Iran were to cause trouble here, as they are currently threatening to do??

“Closing the Strait of Hormuz for Iran’s armed forces is really easy … or as Iranians say, it will be easier than drinking a glass of water,” Iran’s navy chief Habibollah Sayyari told Iran’s English-language Press TV on Wednesday.

The U.S. Fifth Fleet said on Wednesday it would not allow any disruption of traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, after Iran threatened to stop ships moving through the world’s most important oil route.

Source: Reuters