Stopgap measures aren't enough to halt rising gas prices as the world scrambles for more oil

Summary

NEW YORK (AP) — Global leaders have been scrambling to contain the rising cost of oil and gasoline since the start of the Iran war, which took a record amount of oil off the market when tankers full of crude were stranded in the Persian Gulf and military strikes damaged refineries, pipelines and export terminals. Hoping to ease some pain for consumers, President Donald Trump and other heads of state have been pulling on various levers, launching more oil on the market in a bid to calm the chaos. A group of 32 nations that are members of the International Energy Agency began releasing the largest volume of emergency oil reserves in its history: 400 million barrels. Trump is tapping into oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve while lifting sanctions on Russian and Iranian crude and temporarily waiving the Jones Act, a maritime law that requires ships carrying goods between U.S. ports to be U.S.-flagged. But despite those maneuvers, crude oil surpassed $100 a barrel and gasoline is selling for $4.06 a gallon on average in the U.S. While the stopgaps are helping, they're not adding up to enough oil to replace what's stranded, experts say. “They're all incremental,” said Mark Barteau, professor of chemical engineering and chemistry at Texas A&M University. "You’re talking about these different patches being at the level of maybe 1 to 2 million barrels a day each, and you’ve got to get to 20, so it’s hard to see those actually adding up to the numbers that are needed. And then the question is, how long can you sustain those?” Trapped oil Before the war began, roughly 15 million barrels of crude oil and 5 million barrels of oil products passed daily through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf, amounting to about 20% of global oil consumption, according to the International Energy Agency. In addition to that loss, some oil producing nations in the Middle East have halted oil production because they can't ship fuel out of the Gulf and their storage tanks are full. That's taken about 10 million more barrels per day off the market, the IEA said. Then there are the eight countries around the Persian Gulf that together hold about 50% of global oil reserves. Under normal circumstances, they coordinate closely to raise or lower their output to keep prices steady, said Jim Krane, energy research fellow at Rice University’s Baker Institute. Usually Saudi Arabia steps in to bring spare oil to market and calm things down, he said. “But all of that spare capacity is also bottled up inside the Persian Gulf right now and it can’t get to market either,” Krane said. “So the main emergency response system that we have is also blocked.” The IEA said in its recent report that “the resumption of transit through the Strait of Hormuz is the single most important action to return to stable oil and gas flows and reduce the strains on markets and prices.” Barring that, world leaders are grasping for ways to free up more oil. Limitations of short-term fixes Some nations have found workarounds to move oil out of the Gulf. Saudi Arabia is using its East-West pipeline, which stretches from the Persian Gulf to the Red Sea, to transfer about 5 million barrels per day out of the Gulf, said Michael Lynch, distinguished fellow at Energy Policy Research Foundation, a non-partisan institution focused on energy and economics. But the nation was already using that pipeline to transport oil, so it doesn’t have a lot of spare room to move oil from stranded tankers. Trump also temporarily lifted sanctions on approximately 140 million barrels of Iranian oil that was already in transit. But that didn’t add oil to the market — it just widened the pool of potential buyers, said Daniel Sternoff, senior fellow at the Columbia Center on Global Energy Policy. Typically, most Iranian oil was bought by private refiners in China, who purchased it at a steep discount, Sternoff said. But with sanctions lifted, others could scramble to buy the oil, which in turn raises its price to the benefit of Iran, he said. “As soon as you are moving to waive sanctions on your adversary with whom you’re fighting a military conflict, to do something in their benefit, it just shows you that you are running out of options to try to prevent a rise in the price of oil,” Sternoff said. The decision to lift sanctions on Russian oil could have more impact, because Russia had been storing unpurchased oil in tankers, Sternoff said. “By waiving sanctions, it will allow those barrels to clear.” Trump’s temporary waiver of the Jones Act to allow foreign ships to temporarily transport goods between U.S. ports could potentially help ease natural gas prices by enabling companies to more efficiently ship liquefied natural gas from the Gulf Coast to New England. But experts don’t expect the waiver to significantly impact the price of oil or gasoline. “It’s helpful, but not a game changer,” Lynch said. Why U.S. oil production can't solve the problem The U.S. is a major oil producer, and exports more oil than it imports. But like any other oil producing nation, it can't just ramp up production instantly to fill the void. “If the U.S. were to try to make up the global shortfall, we would need to nearly double our production,” Barteau said. “We couldn’t drill wells that fast even if we wanted to.” Increasing domestic production by even 1 million barrels per day, a feat the U.S. accomplished during the shale boom, would be hard to duplicate, Lynch said. “If we run every drilling rig right now, what happens a week from now when the war is over and the price goes back down $20?” Lynch asked. “People don’t want to develop long-term production based on a short-term price spike.” Halting exports and using that oil within the U.S. wouldn't bring down gasoline prices either, experts say. For one, oil is traded on a global market, so events happening halfway around the globe impact prices for everyone. In addition, the U.S. doesn't produce enough of the type of oil its refineries process. It produced about 13.7 million barrels per day of oil at the end of 2025, according to the Energy Information Administration. And refineries processed about 16.3 million barrels per day that year, relying on imports to fill in the gaps, according to the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM), a trade association. That's because nearly 70% of U.S. refineries are set up to process heavy, sour crude, according to AFPM. But much of the oil produced in the U.S. is light, sweet crude, which was unlocked during the shale revolution. “They need different crudes than the ones that are being produced right next to them now,” Krane said. As a result, just 60% of the crude oil processed in U.S. refineries is extracted domestically, according to the AFPM. And retooling domestic refineries would cost billions of dollars, the group said. It also would require shutting down the refinery for a period of time, which generally raises gasoline prices. “A lot of people like the IEA are making the point that this is the biggest oil crisis ever, which is partly true, partly an exaggeration, depending on how you count things,” Lynch said. “A lot of it has to do with how long does this last ... if it goes on for another six weeks we get to be in some serious trouble.”

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CATHY BUSSEWITZ, Business WriterBy CATHY BUSSEWITZ, Business Writer

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High oil prices drive a surge in Chinese electric vehicle sales, but charging networks lag behind

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High oil prices drive a surge in Chinese electric vehicle sales, but charging networks lag behind The war in Iran has helped reshape the global electric vehicle market, giving Chinese automakers an opening across the developing world as fuel prices surge The war in Iran has helped reshape the global electric vehicle market, giving Chinese automakers an opening across the developing world as soaring fuel prices push drivers towards electric vehicles, even as charging infrastructure lags behind a wave of imports.

The blockade of the Strait of Hormuz disrupted shipping of about a fifth of the world’s crude oil and liquified natural gas, first hitting Asia — the main destination for the fuels — followed by Africa. This shock accelerated a trend that was already spreading across the developing world.

In April, global exports of Chinese EVs hit a record $9.4 billion, according to an analysis by think tank Ember of Chinese customs data. Shipments surged to countries such as Australia, Brazil and regions like Southeast Asia and East Africa. China exported about 435,000 passenger EVs and plug-in hybrids in May, more than double from a year earlier, according to the Chinese Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

As fuel costs rise, more drivers are switching to EVs to save money, while governments from Laos to Ethiopia are embracing electrification to curb oil imports and reduce costs of fuel subsidies. But faster EV adoption is outpacing the expansion of charging networks.

Governments and state-owned utilities in Africa are taking a leading role in building them — a model analysts say could help other emerging markets, like Asia, speed the shift away from fossil fuels. When a nation lacks sufficient charging infrastructure and EV fleet size, it is a “classic chicken-and-egg problem” regarding what comes first, said Paul Gong, head of UBS bank’s China automotive industry research.

“At that stage, government support for infrastructure could help accelerate adoption,” he said. Fuel shock drives EV use in Asia and Africa Across the developing world, drivers are looking beyond the gas pump. In Southeast Asia, imports of Chinese EVs have surged in Thailand, Laos and the Philippines.

In May, Laos banned the import of fuel-powered vehicles for the rest of 2026 to cut oil import costs and encourage the EV shift. Africa imported around 44,000 Chinese EVs in 2025, a 130% jump from the year before, according to Chinese Commerce Ministry data.

Across Asia and Africa, transport is one of the largest household expenses. Limited public transit, long commutes and a reliance on private vehicles make families vulnerable to volatile fuel prices. In South Africa, transportation accounts for nearly a fifth of household spending, according to a 2024 study by Stellenbosch University in South Africa's Western Cape province.

So, as fuel prices surge, global interest in EVs has been growing, said Mark Wakefield, with the consultancy AlixPartners. One in four new cars sold worldwide last year were electric, according to the International Energy Agency. Global electric car sales are expected to grow further in 2026 and reach 23 million, making up nearly 30% of all cars sold worldwide, according to the IEA’s latest EV outlook.

“In the next five years, we will accelerate (our) overseas expansion,” said Jerry Gan, CEO of Geely Auto, one of China's biggest automakers, at a company event in March as the auto group makes inroad into regions like Southeast Asia including selling EVs.

Chinese automakers supplied around 60% of electric cars sold globally, the IEA said. They have also been targeting Europe, Africa and Latin America. In Vietnam, automaker VinFast also logged stronger sales. Demand from Southeast Asia helped drive a 42% year-on-year increase in the company's January-March quarterly revenue.

On most mornings, Nguyen Thien Bao threads his VinFast electric motorbike through the jammed traffic of Vietnam’s capital Hanoi — ferrying passengers and deliveries. The EV bike has sharply cut his expenses as fuel prices rise. “Before, so much of my income went into fuel,” he said.

“Now, I can actually save some money.” Charging stations aren't keeping up But while EV imports are booming, charging infrastructure is still lagging even as installations have accelerated. Thailand, for instance, has around 4,600 public charging locations to serve more than 424,000 battery EVs and plug-in hybrids, according to the Electric Vehicle Association of Thailand — around one for every 92 vehicles.

The country currently has roughly 12,000 public chargers, the IEA said. Chitsanupong Nuamnorm's solution is to keep his gasoline-fueled Mazda 2 for weekend trips, although the Chinese-made MG4 EV he bought on Feb. 27 — the day before the Iran war began — is saving him a lot of money.

Yutthana Samranwong, a 54-year-old driver in Thailand’s northern Phitsanulok province, says booking online for public charging ports to keep his MG4 EV running is a gamble. “It's a bit of a headache,” said Samranwong, who sometimes works with the Grab ride-hailing and delivery service.

In Bangkok, strained charging networks are prompting some drivers to consider returning to fuel-powered cars. In Malaysia, public fast chargers were up more than 70% in 2025, according to the IEA, after the government rolled out incentives to including a tax break for operators of charging points that meet certain investment criteria.

Indonesia has more than 4,500 public charging stations set up the state-owned power utility PLN, the IEA said. Ethiopia, which has banned non-EV imports, had only around a dozen charging stations as of mid-2025, and the government estimates it needs more than 1,170 stations to meet rising demand.

In the capital Addis Ababa, 40 stations are under construction, according to the state electricity utility. “In developing markets, affordability can accelerate the shift, but the pace of adoption will still depend heavily on infrastructure, power reliability and use case,” said Chris Liu, with the technology research and advisory group Omdia.

State utilities take the wheel to build charging stations In Indonesia, more than 4,500 public chargers have been deployed by its state-owned power utility PLN, the IEA said. African countries also are increasingly turning to state-owned utilities to build EV charging networks, betting public investment can solve one of the biggest obstacles to electric vehicle adoption.

“Utilities are recognizing that electric mobility will become a meaningful source of future electricity demand,” said Ndia Magadagela, co-founder and CEO of Everlectric, a South African commercial EV leasing company. There are around 2,000 public EV charging stations in Africa, with South Africa accounting for the largest share.

State-controlled utility Kenya Power plans to build 44 charging stations within the next year. But building networks of charging stations is difficult in developing markets, according to Omidia's Liu, who said grid connections and maintenance are key issues.

While BYD, for example, is expanding its ultrafast EV charging network in places like Europe, large Chinese automakers typically may have relatively little incentive to build networks outside China, he said. State-owned utilities, therefore, can play a larger role in this, according to Liu, since they are closely tied to a country’s grid planning, electricity pricing and distribution capacity.

“You need charging infrastructure to support an even larger fleet size,” said Gong, the auto analyst from UBS. ___ Olingo reported from Nairobi, Kenya, and Delgado reported from Bangkok. Associated Press writer Aniruddha Ghosal contributed to this report.

___ The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.

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