Worries about global economic pain deepen as the war in Iran drags on

The loss of 20 million barrels of oil a day delivered what the International Energy Agency calls the “largest supply disruption in the history of the global oil market.’’ Poorer countries will be hit hardest and face the biggest energy shortages “because they will be outbid when competing for the remaining oil and natural gas,’’ said Lutz Kilian, director of the Center for Energy and the Economy at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. “Some of the damage to LNG facilities in Qatar done will likely take years to repair,'' said the Dallas Fed's Kilian, who also noted necessary repairs to refineries in countries like Kuwait and tankers in the Gulf that must be re-provisioned and stocked up with marine fuel.