Fossil gas is a feedstock for the Haber-Bosch process used to make fertiliser (but invented for making early 20th Century munitions).
-
…I’m a climate and biosphere collapse-concerned web designer. So aside from shit posting like an old fart, I tend to post about environment and tech.
Being a tech heavy community, Mastodon tends to prick its ears up a bit more when I post about tech. Posts about food systems like the above, not so much.
So by way of a lead in to where this thread is going shortly (and may subsequently continue), here following is a *tech* angle on the Straits of Hormuz being more or less closed…
…The following is taken from a transcript of something I’ll share a link to in a bit.
“The majority of crude oil that passes through the Straits of Hormuz is classified as sour crude with a high sulfur content, and when you refine sour crude, you produce elemental sulfur as a byproduct.
When we pull ~17 million barrels a day of sour crude off the market, we’re not just losing fuel, we also are potentially losing sulfur…
-
…The following is taken from a transcript of something I’ll share a link to in a bit.
“The majority of crude oil that passes through the Straits of Hormuz is classified as sour crude with a high sulfur content, and when you refine sour crude, you produce elemental sulfur as a byproduct.
When we pull ~17 million barrels a day of sour crude off the market, we’re not just losing fuel, we also are potentially losing sulfur…
…“And sulfur’s the feedstock for sulfuric acid and sulfuric acid is what we use to leach copper and cobalt out of the ground in places like the DRC and Zambia. The two of those countries together supply over a sixth of global copper and more than 70% of global cobalt.
So the little oil snafu in the Straits of Hormuz could lead to no marginal copper or cobalt.
No transformers, no grid expansion. No grid expansion, no data centers, which means no EV charging infrastructure, no AI build out, etc…
-
…“And sulfur’s the feedstock for sulfuric acid and sulfuric acid is what we use to leach copper and cobalt out of the ground in places like the DRC and Zambia. The two of those countries together supply over a sixth of global copper and more than 70% of global cobalt.
So the little oil snafu in the Straits of Hormuz could lead to no marginal copper or cobalt.
No transformers, no grid expansion. No grid expansion, no data centers, which means no EV charging infrastructure, no AI build out, etc…
…“So this chain – Hormuz to sulfur, to acid, to copper, to transformers, to compute – really has very little to do with gasoline prices.
But it’s one example of the complexity and risk of our interconnected just in time system.”
- - -
That’s the tech lens. Next up, linking back to food at the top…
-
…“So this chain – Hormuz to sulfur, to acid, to copper, to transformers, to compute – really has very little to do with gasoline prices.
But it’s one example of the complexity and risk of our interconnected just in time system.”
- - -
That’s the tech lens. Next up, linking back to food at the top…
…“So here’s another hotter effect: Natural gas.
Qatar sits inside the Persian Gulf. They’re responsible for roughly 20% of all globally traded LNG.
Europe spent two years after Ukraine’s invasion rewiring its entire energy import infrastructure away from Russia’s pipeline gas towards US and Qatari LNG.
So European dependency now runs directly through the closed Straits of Hormuz. And unlike oil, there is no overland alternative for LNG…
-
…“So here’s another hotter effect: Natural gas.
Qatar sits inside the Persian Gulf. They’re responsible for roughly 20% of all globally traded LNG.
Europe spent two years after Ukraine’s invasion rewiring its entire energy import infrastructure away from Russia’s pipeline gas towards US and Qatari LNG.
So European dependency now runs directly through the closed Straits of Hormuz. And unlike oil, there is no overland alternative for LNG…
…“And the [LNG] price spikes are already hitting European importers and futures markets.
There’s also nitrogen fertilizer. Over 40% of internationally traded nitrogen fertilizers originate from or are navigated through the Persian Gulf.
Nitrogen fertilizer starts with natural gas, which is then the feedstock for ammonia, which becomes urea, which goes on the fields around the world, and a disrupted planting cycle could translate into food price inflation very quickly, within months…
-
…“And the [LNG] price spikes are already hitting European importers and futures markets.
There’s also nitrogen fertilizer. Over 40% of internationally traded nitrogen fertilizers originate from or are navigated through the Persian Gulf.
Nitrogen fertilizer starts with natural gas, which is then the feedstock for ammonia, which becomes urea, which goes on the fields around the world, and a disrupted planting cycle could translate into food price inflation very quickly, within months…
…“And food inflation in import-dependent nations that have very thin fiscal reserves like Egypt or Pakistan or Turkey, becomes political quite quickly. A recent guest on TGS, Craig Tindale, labeled this situation as a potential globalized Arab Spring…
-
…“And food inflation in import-dependent nations that have very thin fiscal reserves like Egypt or Pakistan or Turkey, becomes political quite quickly. A recent guest on TGS, Craig Tindale, labeled this situation as a potential globalized Arab Spring…
…“Beyond energy, fuel, and inflation, there’s also the supply chain precursors for something like 6,000 distinct products that move through the Straits of Hormuz. Thousands of products, from polyester to medical plastics to semiconductors. They all use petroleum as precursors to their physical products or in the process that makes them…
-
…“Beyond energy, fuel, and inflation, there’s also the supply chain precursors for something like 6,000 distinct products that move through the Straits of Hormuz. Thousands of products, from polyester to medical plastics to semiconductors. They all use petroleum as precursors to their physical products or in the process that makes them…
…“The wide boundary point here is this.
We’re not watching an oil price shock.
We’re watching the exposure of a civilization that organized itself around maximum efficiency and zero redundancy, and built a single point of geopolitical failure into the center of a global physical economy, the Straits of Hormuz and the situation there is the most consequential single location on the planet for the foreseeable future.”
-
…“The wide boundary point here is this.
We’re not watching an oil price shock.
We’re watching the exposure of a civilization that organized itself around maximum efficiency and zero redundancy, and built a single point of geopolitical failure into the center of a global physical economy, the Straits of Hormuz and the situation there is the most consequential single location on the planet for the foreseeable future.”
…At this point, I’ll share where the transcript across the preceding 8 posts is from.
It’s a half hour podcast episode:
‘Wide Boundary News: The Iranian War, Rising Gas Prices, and the Single Point Failure’
Audio: https://overcast.fm/+BTumXe5m9g
Text [pdf]: https://www.thegreatsimplification.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Frankly-130-Transcript-WBN-10-March-2026.docx.pdfI’ll go on to share a bit more but I recommend listening to the whole thing.
-
…At this point, I’ll share where the transcript across the preceding 8 posts is from.
It’s a half hour podcast episode:
‘Wide Boundary News: The Iranian War, Rising Gas Prices, and the Single Point Failure’
Audio: https://overcast.fm/+BTumXe5m9g
Text [pdf]: https://www.thegreatsimplification.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Frankly-130-Transcript-WBN-10-March-2026.docx.pdfI’ll go on to share a bit more but I recommend listening to the whole thing.
…The next bit gets into military asymmetry and dependencies.
“In ecology and economics, stocks are what’s accumulated and flows are what moves through them.
The problem is that flows feel infinite right up until the stock runs out. And I refer to this as the slurping sound with respect to oil extraction.
Stocks and flows apply to military capacity as well…
-
…The next bit gets into military asymmetry and dependencies.
“In ecology and economics, stocks are what’s accumulated and flows are what moves through them.
The problem is that flows feel infinite right up until the stock runs out. And I refer to this as the slurping sound with respect to oil extraction.
Stocks and flows apply to military capacity as well…
…“The US has historically had the most impressive offensive flow, capacity: shock and awe, precision strikes, the ability to put bombs on target anywhere on earth, within hours.
But the stocks, particularly the stocks of things like interceptor missiles maybe getting dangerously low.
I’m told by people who follow this closely that the US and Israel have been firing 5 to 7 interceptors for every incoming Iranian missile…
-
…“And food inflation in import-dependent nations that have very thin fiscal reserves like Egypt or Pakistan or Turkey, becomes political quite quickly. A recent guest on TGS, Craig Tindale, labeled this situation as a potential globalized Arab Spring…
@urlyman Any current shortages are just profiteering.
But if the current stupidity goes on for some months, then yes, there will be a simultaneous uptick in energy prices and fertiliser prices. Anywhere dictatorial that relies on rural voters to outweigh urban voters (hello, Turkey, Pakistan) will be in trouble.
Don’t forget the recursive effect of oil price increases on shipping which affects costs of everything being shipped. Hello, inflation.
-
…“The US has historically had the most impressive offensive flow, capacity: shock and awe, precision strikes, the ability to put bombs on target anywhere on earth, within hours.
But the stocks, particularly the stocks of things like interceptor missiles maybe getting dangerously low.
I’m told by people who follow this closely that the US and Israel have been firing 5 to 7 interceptors for every incoming Iranian missile…
…“And by the way, each of those interceptors cost millions of dollars and takes months to manufacture.
A PAC-3 interceptor costs like $4 million. In contrast, a Shahed drone made in Iran costs around $50K. That’s a cost-exchange ratio of about nearly 100:1 in Iran’s favor. So Iran doesn't need to win the Air War outright. They probably just need to keep up intermittent launches long enough to limit what the US can shoot back with…
-
…“And by the way, each of those interceptors cost millions of dollars and takes months to manufacture.
A PAC-3 interceptor costs like $4 million. In contrast, a Shahed drone made in Iran costs around $50K. That’s a cost-exchange ratio of about nearly 100:1 in Iran’s favor. So Iran doesn't need to win the Air War outright. They probably just need to keep up intermittent launches long enough to limit what the US can shoot back with…
…“And Secretary of State Rubio said publicly that Iran is producing offensive weapons faster than the US and its allies can manufacture interceptors to stop them. And the Secretary of War suggested this war may go on for months.
The US is historically structured for periodic high intensity bursts, not
sustained engagement. The assumption has always been overwhelming force, short duration, then restock. But that model does not hold if a conflict drags on. Especially a large conflict.” -
…“And sulfur’s the feedstock for sulfuric acid and sulfuric acid is what we use to leach copper and cobalt out of the ground in places like the DRC and Zambia. The two of those countries together supply over a sixth of global copper and more than 70% of global cobalt.
So the little oil snafu in the Straits of Hormuz could lead to no marginal copper or cobalt.
No transformers, no grid expansion. No grid expansion, no data centers, which means no EV charging infrastructure, no AI build out, etc…
@urlyman Copper as a conductor is in many places readily replaceable by aluminium - and often already is, for price reasons.
-
…“And Secretary of State Rubio said publicly that Iran is producing offensive weapons faster than the US and its allies can manufacture interceptors to stop them. And the Secretary of War suggested this war may go on for months.
The US is historically structured for periodic high intensity bursts, not
sustained engagement. The assumption has always been overwhelming force, short duration, then restock. But that model does not hold if a conflict drags on. Especially a large conflict.”…If there’s a single sentence to take away from the above, it’s:
“Flows feel infinite right up until the stock runs out”.
- - -
But that’s enough for now. If it’s too much for you, then sorry, mute or block me.
I’m not going to be not interested in this stuff.
-
@violetmadder Yesss!
-
@urlyman Copper as a conductor is in many places readily replaceable by aluminium - and often already is, for price reasons.
-
…“And Secretary of State Rubio said publicly that Iran is producing offensive weapons faster than the US and its allies can manufacture interceptors to stop them. And the Secretary of War suggested this war may go on for months.
The US is historically structured for periodic high intensity bursts, not
sustained engagement. The assumption has always been overwhelming force, short duration, then restock. But that model does not hold if a conflict drags on. Especially a large conflict.”@urlyman and with the US stock of weapons quickly depleting, what will happen in other regions? North Korea against South Korea? China and Taiwan? Russia in Europe? Who will use this opportunity to use force?
-
@urlyman and with the US stock of weapons quickly depleting, what will happen in other regions? North Korea against South Korea? China and Taiwan? Russia in Europe? Who will use this opportunity to use force?
