October 13, 2023 - 7:00am
The world is still in shock from the Hamas attack on Israel over the weekend. But one group which seems to have largely taken consequent events in its stride is oil market traders. Just prior to the attack, WTI oil prices had fallen precipitously from their recent peak of $93.68 a barrel in late September to $82.31 last week. On Monday, prices bounced back up to $86.38 before falling to $83.49.
Market chatter appears to be counting on a short war, largely contained to the Gaza Strip. Citi oil analysts told Bloomberg that the market is currently “pricing a scenario that assumes the Israeli response is forceful, but not particularly long-lasting”. Analysts seem to be equally sanguine on the prospect for diplomacy in the region, arguing that “a deal between Saudi Arabia and Israel will be at very least postponed.”
The idea that the war will be short seems unlikely, judging from recent Israeli statements. Maj. Gen. Rafi Milo said to the press that “we have identified the behaviour of Hamas, which realises that it is entering a long war.” This seems like an obvious point, and one wonders why it is lost on markets.
Israel is now all but committed to destroying Hamas — indeed, this is precisely what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said. The country has put the militant group’s total number at around 30,000 fighters. To give some context, in the 2014 Gaza War — until now, the deadliest in the Strip — Israel killed just over 640 Hamas fighters over a period of six weeks. Eliminating Hamas would require 47 times the number of fighters killed.
Then there is the territory. The Gaza Strip is 360 square kilometres, no doubt filled with traps and bunkers set up by Hamas. Perhaps the best analogue in recent times is the city of Bakhmut in Eastern Ukraine where the bloodiest fighting of that war so far has taken place. Bakhmut is just over 41 square kilometres, nine times smaller than the Gaza Strip, and had a population of 73,000 before the Russian invasion. The Gaza Strip has more than two million inhabitants, meaning that over 27 times the number of people need to be evacuated and resettled unless the Israelis want to oversee a mass slaughter.
The markets’ optimistic take on the diplomatic situation is likewise in doubt. This week Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman held their first ever phone call. During this eerily timed event, which comes after Iran reopened its embassies in Saudi Arabia in June for the first time in seven years, the two men discussed the “need to end war crimes against Palestine”. One need not be a master diplomat to deduce that the two major regional powers are picking a side.
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SubscribeI see that Saudia Arabia and Iran are normalizing relations once again under the Biden regime. He’s just doing a bang up job with foreign affairs.
In an unrelated note, but so related, I’m watching a TV report about the pro hockey league NHL no longer formally endorsing LBGTQ rainbow coloured hockey tape.
We are clowns. Our enemies think we are clowns. The regime media, the activists, the political elite are yapping endlessly about issues NO ONE cares about.
The world is burning and I’m watching a news report about rainbow colored hockey tape. We are unserious people and will be treated as such – as long as progressives and clowns like Biden are running the show.
I think the author is right that there seems to be a degree of complacency over whether these conflicts can be localised. Ukraine, Gaza … what next? Maybe they will be. Maybe not. Nothing is ever inevitable but the current situation is uncomfortably reminiscent of the Balkan wars, the Agadir crisis etc in the 1910-14 period. It would preferable if the coverage showed a little more awareness of the risks of escalation.
Without going into the rights and wrongs of the Israeli blockade, does it not indicate the campaign will be shorter than some are anticipating, despite rhetoric to the contrary?
The blockade can only be leveraged for a short period of time before it risks causing civilian casualties on scale that would be unacceptable to Israel’s allies but whilst active it will weaken Hamas’s ability to fight. This suggests to maximise this advantage Israel will have to proceed with a certain degree haste. Despite their justified rage, Israel’s commanders will know that the clock is ticking and the window in which they can strike with a certain degree of impunity is limited.