The biggest oil risk is at the bottom of the barrel
The Iran war has turned the energy industry upside down. Fuel oil is now an ultra-expensive commodity – and that’s bad news for the global economy.
Javier Blas
In the oil industry, fuel oil is known as the bottom of the barrel. It’s typically cheap, unloved and, crucially, comes from the bottom of a petroleum-distillation tower – the tall piece of refining kit where crude gets heated and cracked into several petroleum products.
But the Iran war has turned the industry upside down. Fuel oil is now an ultra-expensive commodity – and that’s bad news for the global economy.