Crescent Petroleum: Targeting energy facilities is an international war crime

Sharjah, 9 June / WAM / Majeed Hamid Jaafar, CEO of Crescent Petroleum, based in the Emirate of Sharjah, said that the recent Gulf crisis turned into a shock whose repercussions went beyond the limits of the energy market, and that the disruption of the flow of supplies through the Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of the world’s oil usually passes, revealed the extent of the global economy’s dependence on a limited number of narrow strategic corridors.

This came during a speech he delivered during the “Petroleum Diplomacy 2026” conference organized by the Arab Gulf States Institute yesterday in Washington, DC, in the presence of an audience of senior business, financial sector and government leaders.

Jaafar said, “This is not an issue of energy, but of an entire global economy,” noting that the same waterway transports up to a third of the fertilizers traded globally and 40% of helium (an essential element in the manufacture of semiconductors), along with a large portion of the raw materials on which modern industry depends. The impact of this is not limited to vehicle fuel prices, but extends to daily food, phone chips, and airplanes.

According to Jaafar’s estimates, the direct damage to the energy infrastructure has so far exceeded $60 billion, while revenue losses and stumbling trade have exceeded $150 billion and continue to rise by more than a billion dollars per day. The loss in oil supplies has reached more than a billion barrels since the beginning of the turmoil. The International Energy Agency has described this dilemma as the largest supply disruption in the history of the global oil market, while economists lowered their global growth expectations for this year and raised inflation expectations.

Jaafar emphasized that infrastructure is not just steel and concrete, but rather human effort, accumulated expertise, and livelihoods that millions depend on daily, praising the engineers, operators, and field work teams in the energy sector in the region who maintained the flow of supplies despite unprecedented risks, often with great personal sacrifices.

He also stressed a clear position on targeting energy facilities, saying that intentionally targeting civilian energy infrastructure is a war crime under international law, pointing to the repercussions of this on lives and livelihoods not only in producing countries but in every economy that depends on this energy.

He explained that the trend that focused for years on simplifying the functioning of energy systems may have made them more vulnerable to damage and risks, stressing that flexibility is the decisive factor that will determine the course of the next stage.

He said that any source of supply that relies entirely on only one outlet is unsafe, regardless of its size, pointing out that true security today means a solid infrastructure, close interconnection, and effective alternative options that can be resorted to in emergency situations.

In his speech, Jaafar stated that flexibility in itself has become an area of ​​investment, pointing to the many opportunities that have become available to sovereign wealth funds, development finance institutions, and long-term institutional capital to support new energy corridors, enhance distributed storages, and strengthen international interconnection. This is an area in which the Gulf region has already begun investing, as governments are working to establish land routes that bypass the strait, distribute strategic storage across multiple locations, and invest in alternative export pipelines and interconnection networks to reduce reliance on limited corridors.

He stressed that the future of the region lies in achieving local values ​​and not targeting only exports, citing the operations of Crescent Petroleum Company in Iraq, which continued to work and expand despite the security challenges and regional conflict, as gas production increased by 50% during the past year with the support of international partners, including the American Foundation for International Development Finance, which continues to support it with the succession of American administrations.

Jaafar concluded by saying: The countries and companies that will flourish in the coming energy era are not the most productive, but rather those that secure their production by establishing more flexible systems and converting their resources into sustainable value for their people.

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