Natural Gas Prices Surge Worldwide as Iran Conflict Crimps Global Energy Supply

The Iran conflict has sent natural gas prices soaring worldwide — particularly in Europe — as a major gas exporter paused production and key shipping routes shut down, compounding the energy crisis already triggered by surging oil prices. The strikes by the United States and Israel, along with Iran's retaliatory attacks across the Gulf, have caused major disruptions to liquefied natural gas markets at a moment when global energy infrastructure was already strained. The gas price spike adds a second energy shock on top of the oil price surge that followed attacks on ships near the Strait of Hormuz, threatening to reignite the inflation that had only recently begun to cool. For European nations that spent billions replacing Russian gas supplies after the Ukraine invasion, the disruption is a painful reminder that the continent's energy security remains fragile and vulnerable to conflicts thousands of miles away — and that the economic consequences of war in the Middle East are felt most acutely by the consumers and businesses least able to absorb them.