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OSLO, Sept 16: Global energy markets face a lengthening period of tight supply and price volatility as the industry\u2019s ability to offset disruptions \u200bfrom the Middle East is dwindling, senior executives from Shell and Equinor said \u200con Wednesday.<\/strong><\/p>\n Attacks on oil tankers in the Middle East helped push crude prices towards $110 a barrel this week for the first time since May. Refined products have risen even more sharply, with \u200bfuels such as diesel reaching record highs.<\/p>\n Still, the market\u2019s ability to adapt and absorb \u200bsupply disruptions since the start of the U.S.-Isreali war with Iran in \u2060late February has been impressive, Adam Ritchie, chief economist at Shell Trading, told an \u200bindustry conference in Oslo.<\/p>\n According to Shell\u2019s calculations, the world has lost about 36 million metric \u200btons of liquefied natural gas, equivalent to the combined imports of Britain and France last year, as well as 1.6 billion barrels of crude oil and condensates, he said.<\/p>\n Much of the impact had \u200bbeen offset by weaker demand from China, inventory drawdowns, flexible shipping capacity, spare pipeline \u200bcapacity and rising output from the Americas.<\/p>\n \u201cBut those shock absorbers are weakening,\u201d Ritchie said, adding that \u200cthe longer \u2060the disruption persists, the greater the risk markets will be exposed to future supply shocks.<\/p>\n Reopening energy chokepoints disrupted by the crisis would not necessarily bring an immediate recovery, as bottlenecks across shipping, production and supply chains could delay a return to normal conditions \u200bwell into 2027, assuming \u200bno further damage \u2060to energy infrastructure, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThereafter, we\u2019ll need to see significant restocking, and that\u2019ll be expected to draw on supply well into \u200bnext year, potentially beyond,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n In Europe, where gas storage levels \u200bare far \u2060below seasonal averages ahead of winter, prices will depend on the weather, LNG flows through the Strait of Hormuz and competition with Asia for cargoes, Equinor CEO Anders Opedal said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe \u2060shock \u200babsorbers are not as sufficient as they were in \u200bthe beginning of the conflict and I think consumers will see that at least over the next months,\u201d \u200bOpedal said on the sidelines of the conference.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n