The world has absorbed with surprising ease the loss of over a billion barrels of oil supply since the Iran war began, but, with long-term peace elusive and buffer reserves now drained, it still faces the looming risk of future price spikes.

Tehran¡¯s throttling of the Strait of Hormuz in response to the U.S. and Israeli attacks launched on Feb. 28 fed fears of a catastrophic global energy crunch.

The ensuing four-month conflict did, indeed, create the biggest energy disruption in history, according to the International Energy Agency. At its worst, the headline supply loss ?was 14 million barrels per day.