In addition to oil, nearly 90 per cent of liquefied natural gas (LNG) exported through the Strait is also bound for Asian markets, which accounted for around 27 per cent of Asia’s total LNG imports that year.
Bangladesh, India and Pakistan imported almost two-thirds of their total LNG supplies via the Strait of Hormuz in 2025.
“Almost all Asian countries, in particular India, China, Japan, South Korea and several Southeast Asian states are heavily dependent on oil and gas imports from the Middle East,” Mr Lawrence Anderson, a Senior Fellow at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University, told CNA.
Why does Asia bear more of the economic impact than the US?
A key reason is how differently major economies are positioned in the global energy system.
While Asian economies remain heavily dependent on imported oil and gas, the US has undergone a major shift over the past decade.
It is now much less dependent on the Strait of Hormuz than Asia. According to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), the US has been an annual net total energy exporter since 2019.
“A lot of people still have not realised: In 2016, America overtook Saudi Arabia to become the largest oil producer; in 2017, the largest natural gas producer,” said Dr Balakrishnan.
“By 2019, America was a net energy exporter – very different from the circumstances five decades ago.”
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/cna-explains-iran-war-strait-hormuz-closure-hits-asia-hardest-6019431
