In every previous Middle East war, the price of oil jumped when the guns started firing, and often remained high while hostilities lasted. It could hardly be otherwise given the commodity’s critical importance as the bloodline of the global economy and bearing in mind the physical vulnerability of the Middle East oil industry, with its combustible extraction rigs, easily destructible pipelines and cumbersome oil tankers manoeuvring awkwardly through narrow and often contested sea routes.

Not this time, however. For, apart from an initial, minor, and brief uptick when Hamas surprised everyone with its bloody attack on Israel on Oct 7, the global price of oil has refused to budge. And almost two months into the war, oil prices actually went down by around 8 per cent.