Encyclopedia
Every page follows the same discipline: key numbers with source and date, dependency maps, incident timelines, and a live signal layer.
Chokepoints
13The physical and processing bottlenecks global flows must pass through: straits, canals, cables, smelters.
Bab el-Mandeb strait shipping: what passes and who depends on it
Bab el-Mandeb strait shipping in 2026: oil and LNG volumes, the Houthi blockade of Saudi cargo, bypass options and who depends on the Red Sea gateway.
Cape of Good Hope shipping route: the detour that became the main road
Cape of Good Hope shipping route: 9.1 mb/d of oil, the 10 to 14 day detour around Africa, why ports there can't keep up and what it costs trade in 2026.
Danish Straits oil: the Baltic gate for Russia's shadow fleet
Danish Straits oil: 4.9 mb/d through the Baltic's only sea gate, mostly Russian, 292 sanctioned tanker voyages in 2025, and why Denmark can't close it.
Lombok Strait: the deep-water alternative to Malacca
Lombok Strait: over 150 m deep, open to laden VLCCs that Malacca can't take, the route for Australian ore and LNG to Asia, and what a Malacca detour costs.
War risk insurance in shipping: the chokepoint written in London
War risk insurance shipping explained: how Joint War Committee listed areas and additional premiums set the cost of Hormuz and Red Sea transits in 2026.
Panama Canal shipping: water, draft limits and the 2026 Hormuz surge
Panama Canal shipping in 2026: record traffic as Hormuz pushed US energy exports to Asia, 2.3 mb/d of oil, and the El Niño water risk that limits every transit.
Strait of Hormuz oil flow: how much passes and who depends on it
Strait of Hormuz oil flow: 20 mb/d before the 2026 closure, 20% of global LNG, bypass capacity, who depends on it and what the 2026 blockade changed.
Suez Canal shipping: oil flows, revenue and the 2026 detour
Suez Canal shipping in numbers: 4.9 mb/d of oil with SUMED, revenue at half its 2023 peak, why containers still go around Africa and what 2026 changed.
Oil chokepoints: the world's critical shipping routes compared
Oil chokepoints compared: how much crude and product passes Malacca, Hormuz, Suez, Bab el-Mandeb, the Danish and Turkish straits and Panama in 2026.
Strait of Malacca shipping: the world's largest oil chokepoint
Strait of Malacca shipping in numbers: 23.2 mb/d of oil, 102,525 transits a year, who depends on it, the Lombok and Sunda alternatives, and what 2026 changed.
Black Sea shipping routes: ports, cargo and war risk
Black Sea shipping routes explained: the ports, the grain and oil corridors, who depends on them, and what happens when shipowners stop sailing.
CPC pipeline Kazakhstan: 80% of exports through one Russian port
CPC pipeline Kazakhstan explained: the route carrying over 80% of Kazakh oil exports, who owns it, and why a strike at Novorossiysk shuts in Tengiz.
Turkish Straits shipping: oil, grain and the Montreux regime
Turkish Straits shipping explained: how much oil and grain crosses the Bosphorus and Dardanelles, who depends on the route, and why no bypass exists.
Commodities
7Critical materials end to end: supply chains, producers, processing gaps, exposure.
Gallium supply: 99% Chinese, and the price gap export controls created
Gallium supply: China makes 99% of primary gallium, a by-product of alumina, and its controls since 2023 opened a wide price gap between China and the rest.
Germanium supply: the defense optics metal China controls
Germanium supply: a zinc and coal by-product used in fiber and infrared optics, mostly refined in China and under export licence since 2023.
Urea and nitrogen fertilizers: Gulf supply, gas costs and the 2026 price shock
Urea prices doubled to over $850/t in April 2026 as Hormuz cut off Gulf exports. Who produces nitrogen fertilizer, who imports it and why gas sets the price.
Potash producers: Canada, Russia, Belarus and the sanctions chokepoint
Potash producers: Canada leads with 15 Mt of 49 Mt world output, Russia and Belarus follow under sanctions, and Brazil imports about 95% of what it uses.
Rare earth elements: China's refining monopoly and the magnet chokepoint
Rare earth elements: China mines about 69% and refines about 91%, makes 94% of magnets, and has licensed dysprosium and terbium exports since April 2025.
Natural gas producers and importers: who supplies and who buys
Natural gas producers and importers ranked: 4,197 bcm produced in 2025, US 26%, Russia 15%, plus LNG exporters, the largest importers, prices and chokepoints.
Crude oil chokepoints: the routes global supply depends on
Crude oil chokepoints explained: who produces oil, who consumes it, which straits and pipelines carry it, and what 2026 proved about substitution.
Dependencies
12Country × commodity crossings: who depends on whom, by how much, and what breaks it.
Brazil fertilizer imports: a record 45 Mt and 85% dependence
Brazil fertilizer imports hit a record 45.5 Mt in 2025, 85% of use. Where urea, phosphate and potash come from, what Hormuz changed and the 2050 plan.
China export controls on critical minerals: rare earths, gallium, germanium and the November 2026 deadlines
China export controls on critical minerals: what is licensed, what is suspended until November 2026, and why rare earths, gallium and germanium matter.
China crude oil imports: record 2025, the Hormuz cut and the stockpile
China crude oil imports hit a record 11.6 mb/d in 2025, fell to 8.1 mb/d in Q2 2026 as Hormuz closed, and a record stockpile took the shock. Who supplies it.
Japan LNG imports: diversified suppliers, thin stocks
Japan LNG imports: about 66 MT in 2025, 40% from Australia, only 6% via Hormuz, stocks worth about three weeks of imports, and how JERA handled the 2026 shock.
Morocco phosphate reserves: two-thirds of the world's supply of a mineral with no substitute
Morocco phosphate reserves: 50 billion tonnes, about 68% of the world total, run by state-owned OCP, and why its fertilizer output still depends on Gulf sulfur.
Norway gas exports: Europe's largest supplier and its single points of failure
Norway gas exports: 114.9 bcm by pipeline in 2025, about 30% of EU and UK use, Troll worth a tenth of Europe's demand, and the outages that move TTF.
Qatar LNG exports: Ras Laffan, Hormuz and who buys the gas
Qatar LNG exports in 2026: 77 MTPA from one complex, 17% knocked out at Ras Laffan, cargoes stuck behind Hormuz and the buyers most exposed to the loss.
Saudi Arabia oil exports: Ras Tanura, Yanbu and a system with two exits
Saudi Arabia oil exports in 2026: 7 mb/d before the war, Hormuz shut, Yanbu carrying the load until the East-West pipeline was hit, and who buys the crude.
US LNG exports: the largest supplier, and the winner of 2026
US LNG exports averaged a record 17.4 Bcf/d in H1 2026, up 23%, as Plaquemines and Corpus Christi ramped up. Where the gas goes and who depends on it.
Europe gas dependence: where the EU gets its gas after Russia
Europe gas dependence in numbers: 289 bcm imported in 2025, Norway 31%, US LNG 26%, Russia down to 12% and banned by 2027, and how Hormuz exposed the LNG bet.
India crude oil imports: 88% dependence and the Hormuz problem
India crude oil imports explained: how much India buys, from whom, why Russian crude hit a record 55% share in 2026, and what Hormuz exposure means.
Russian seaborne crude exports: routes, buyers, shadow fleet
Russian seaborne crude exports explained: volumes, ports, buyers, the shadow fleet, the price cap and the drone attacks now reshaping the trade.