Oil hassle is what has caught the world's attention amid the global conflicts between world-leading countries.
Saudi Arabia began oil output cuts, becoming the latest Gulf producer impacted by the U.S. and Israeli war on Iran that has halted ship traffic in the region, sending crude prices up nearly 30% on Monday to $119 a barrel and prompting G7 countries to consider releasing emergency oil stocks.
Saudi oil giant Aramco has begun cutting output at outlets, adding to earlier reductions by Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates as shipments continue to be blocked and they run out of storage.
G7 finance ministers, including the U.S., Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Italy, and Canada, discussed releasing emergency oil stocks, and a final decision could be taken by the seven countries' leaders later this week.
The International Energy Agency, which coordinates energy policies of Western and some other industrialized nations, holds over 1.2 billion barrels of public emergency oil stocks and a further 600 million barrels of industry stocks.
The Iran war has already cut global oil supply by a combined 200 million barrels over the past 10 days, according to analysts' estimates.
Over the weekend Iraq cut output at its main southern oilfields by 70% to 1.3 million barrels per day.
In Bahrain, Bapco Energies declared force majeure following an attack on its refinery complex, the company said.
Saudi Arabia is diverting crude exports by pipeline to the Red Sea while Iranian threats of attack keep traffic into and out of the Gulf at an almost complete standstill.
Hundreds of tankers sit idle inside the Gulf and just outside its southern Strait of Hormuz.
U.S. President Donald Trump, who returned to power last year pledging to deliver cheaper energy costs for Americans, sought to downplay concerns about rising U.S. gasoline prices, which were up 11% on the week on Friday.
Japan, which imports around 95% of its oil from the Middle East, has instructed a national oil reserve storage site to prepare for a possible crude release in 30 years.
Elsewhere, Vietnam removed import tariffs on fuels, and Bangladesh shut universities to conserve electricity and fuel.
China has asked refiners to halt fuel exports and to try to cancel shipments that were already committed.
Qatar, the world's second-largest exporter of liquefied natural gas, has also halted exports.