The factoid thrown around is that roughly 20% of the world’s oil supply travels through the Strait of Hormuz. Since it closed, my local gas prices in one area of the US midwest have gone from $2.60 to now $4.10 presumably as reserves have been used up.
I could understand a 20~30% increase in price to correlate with the reduction in supply, but what are the economic factors that lead to what feels like such a disproportionate increase?
Which country? Consumer fuel prices have been subsidized to artificially suppress them in a number of places, Brazil for example. The profits are still being made but the rise in prices is being shifted onto the public via govt. debt so it gets paid through future taxes instead of showing up immediately at the pump.