'Oil, gas price surge costs $111bn in first month of Iran war'

350.org, an international environmental organisation, has said its analysis found that rising oil and gas prices have cost consumers and businesses worldwide as much as $111bn in the first month of the war on Iran.

The environmental organisation said that oil giants, such as Chevron, Shell and Exxon Mobil, are “poised to rake in billions of dollars in windfall profits” from the crisis and called on governments to impose taxes on these profits and use the resulting revenue to help address rising prices.

The calculated cost does not yet include the “wider knock-on effects, such as rising fertiliser and food costs”, 350.org noted. “As a result, the true economic damage is likely significantly higher than the losses from oil and gas prices alone.”

In Asia, the group noted that “Philippine lawmakers have recently proposed a windfall tax to curb profiteering by oil companies, while India has reintroduced a windfall tax on oil exports”, and Indonesia’s president has called for the country to build 100GW of solar power to “build energy independence”.

It added that “investing in renewables is the most effective way to stabilise prices, strengthen energy security, and shield economies from future crises”.

Source: Al Jazeera