Take the Stairs, Skip the Wedding: How a War 5,000 Miles Away Is Reshaping Daily Life Across Asia

Two weeks into the U.S.-Israel military campaign against Iran, the consequences of Operation Epic Fury have traveled thousands of miles from the Persian Gulf to fundamentally alter how billions of people in Asia work, commute, and live. From Bangkok bureaucrats ordered to take the stairs instead of the elevator to Pakistani families told to limit wedding guests to 200, the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz — the narrow waterway that carried 20 million barrels of oil per day before the conflict — has forced the most sweeping peacetime fuel conservation measures the continent has ever seen [1][2].

The crisis has exposed a structural vulnerability that energy analysts have warned about for decades: 84% of the crude oil and condensate that moved through the Strait of Hormuz in 2024 went to Asian markets [3]. Now, with that supply cut off and Brent crude surging past $126 per barrel at its peak, Asian governments are scrambling to implement emergency measures that range from the pragmatic to the drastic — and in some cases, echo the lockdowns of the COVID-19 era [4].

The Anatomy of a Supply Shock

Source: FRED / Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

Data as of Mar 11, 2026CSV

Before the war began on February 28, WTI crude oil traded at roughly $67 per barrel. Within days, as Iran moved to blockade the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation for strikes that killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, prices began a vertiginous climb — blowing past $90 by March 6 and $100 by March 8, the first time the benchmark had crossed that threshold in four years [5]. The International Energy Agency responded by coordinating a record 400 million barrel release from member nations' emergency stockpiles, but analysts warned it might not be enough to offset what amounts to the removal of roughly a fifth of global oil supply [6].

For Asia, the arithmetic is particularly brutal. Japan sources 75% of its oil imports from the Middle East. South Korea depends on the region for 70%. India gets 60% from the same suppliers. Even China, which has diversified more aggressively through overland pipelines and renewable energy, still relies on the Strait of Hormuz for 40% to 50% of its seaborne oil imports [3][7].

Country by Country: A Continent in Conservation Mode

Thailand: Stairs, Not Elevators

Thailand has imposed some of the strictest measures, turning government operations into an exercise in energy austerity. Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul ordered civil servants to work from home, take the stairs rather than elevators, and raise air-conditioning temperatures to 27 degrees Celsius. Government employees have been told to swap suits for short-sleeved shirts to reduce cooling demand [1][2]. Bangkok has announced a temporary price cap on diesel and frozen cooking gas prices through May, while banning exports of gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, and LPG — with narrow exceptions for Cambodia and Laos [8][9].

Philippines: The Four-Day Week

The Philippines shifted government employees to a four-day work week effective March 9, excluding emergency and frontline services. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has ordered all government agencies to reduce fuel and electricity consumption by 10 to 20 percent, and sought authority from Congress to temporarily reduce excise taxes on petroleum products if prices continue to climb [10][11].

Pakistan: Lockdown-Like Restrictions

Pakistan's response has been among the most far-reaching. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced in a televised address that 50% of government staff would work from home on a rotating basis, all in-person meetings across federal and provincial governments were banned in favor of online sessions, and fuel allowances were slashed. Schools were ordered closed from March 16 through the end of the month. Social gatherings are now capped: weddings and parties are limited to 200 guests and one main dish [12][13].

The economic pain is immediate. Pakistan relies on imports for more than 80% of its oil needs, and fuel prices have jumped 20% in a single week, with petrol reaching $1.15 per liter and diesel $1.20 — the largest fuel price increase in the country's history. Adding to the crisis, the Pakistan Petroleum Dealers Association has announced an indefinite nationwide shutdown of petrol pumps from March 27 over a dispute about dealer profit margins [12][14].

Bangladesh: Troops at the Fuel Depots

Bangladesh — which imports 95% of its oil and gas needs — has deployed the military at major oil depots, with police patrolling filling stations after panic buying and hoarding raised supply fears. The government shut all public and private universities, bringing forward Eid al-Fitr holidays, and ordered foreign-curriculum schools and private coaching centers to suspend operations to reduce electricity consumption and transportation demand. Daily fuel sales have been capped [15][16].

Myanmar: Odd-Even Driving Days

In Myanmar, which imports 90% of its fuel oil and was already contending with a fragile energy supply chain due to its ongoing civil war, the government has imposed alternating driving days — half of all private vehicles are ordered off the roads each day to preserve dwindling oil stocks [2][17].

South Korea: Price Caps Not Seen Since 1998

South Korea has activated a provision in its Petroleum Business Act that hasn't been used in nearly 30 years, imposing a price ceiling on fuel for the first time since the 1997 Asian financial crisis. Effective March 13, gasoline is capped at 1,724 won ($1.16) per liter, diesel at 1,713 won, and kerosene at 1,320 won [18][19]. The country is simultaneously releasing a record 22.46 million barrels from its strategic oil reserves as part of the coordinated IEA action, while expanding fuel subsidies for trucks, buses, and taxis [20].

Japan: Record Reserve Release

Japan has committed the most dramatic intervention among Asian economies. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi announced the release of 80 million barrels from strategic reserves — the equivalent of 45 days of supply and far exceeding the 25 days' worth released after the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake [21]. The crude will be sold at pre-conflict prices set by Middle Eastern producers, effectively subsidizing the market. The release began flowing as early as March 16 [22].

India: Prioritizing Households

India's oil ministry ordered refineries on March 8 to maximize LPG production for household consumption, raising domestic output by about 25%. Commercial LPG shipments were suspended to prioritize supplies for the country's hundreds of millions of households that rely on cooking gas. About 60% of India's LPG is imported, and roughly 90% of those shipments pass through the Strait of Hormuz [9][23].

China: Quiet but Decisive

China has taken a characteristically less visible but strategically significant approach. State-owned refiners were told to stop signing new fuel export contracts and to negotiate cancellations of cargoes already agreed [24]. Meanwhile, some 40 million barrels of sanctioned crude from Russia, Iran, and Venezuela sit on tankers off the Chinese coast — a strategic buffer that gives Beijing more breathing room than most of its neighbors [25]. Notably, Iran has continued shipping oil directly to China through the Strait even as other traffic has collapsed [26].

The Ripple Effects: Airlines, Inflation, and Economic Pain

The crisis has spread far beyond government offices. Major Asian airlines including Cathay Pacific, Air India, Thai Airways, and Qantas have doubled or nearly doubled fuel surcharges. Cathay Pacific will raise long-haul surcharges from HKD 569 to HKD 1,164 effective March 18. Air India has launched a phased surcharge program that will see long-haul fees reach $125 for Europe and $200 for North America by March 18. Some carriers have begun canceling routes entirely [27][28].

Source: GDELT Project

Data as of Mar 15, 2026CSV

The inflationary pressure extends well beyond fuel. Transportation costs feed into the price of food, manufactured goods, and services across the region. ING analysts have identified the Philippines, Thailand, India, Bangladesh, and Myanmar as the economies most vulnerable to the current shock, given their high import dependency and limited strategic reserves [29].

Wood Mackenzie has warned that if the Strait of Hormuz remains closed, oil prices of $200 per barrel are "not outside the realms of possibility" — a scenario that would be catastrophic for net-importing Asian economies already stretched thin by post-pandemic recovery challenges [1].

Asia's Structural Vulnerability Laid Bare

The current crisis is a stress test that Asia's energy infrastructure was never designed to pass. Despite decades of warnings about over-reliance on Middle Eastern oil flowing through a single chokepoint, diversification has been slow and uneven. China's overland pipelines from Russia and Central Asia provide a partial buffer, and its aggressive investment in electric vehicles and renewable energy have reduced the proportional impact. But for South and Southeast Asia — home to more than three billion people — the Strait of Hormuz remains an irreplaceable lifeline [3][7].

The measures being implemented now bear an uncomfortable resemblance to the austerity programs of past energy crises — the 1973 oil embargo, the 1979 Iranian Revolution supply shock — but with a critical difference. In 2026, the disruption is not merely a price spike driven by embargo politics; it is a physical blockade of the world's most important oil chokepoint, occurring alongside active military strikes on energy infrastructure. The supply disruption is both larger and more uncertain in its duration than any previous episode [5][30].

For workers ordered home, students sent on extended holiday, and drivers waiting in rationing lines, the geopolitical abstractions of great-power competition have become intensely personal. The war between the United States, Israel, and Iran is being fought with cruise missiles and drones in the Persian Gulf. But its second front — measured in gasoline prices, darkened offices, and shuttered schools — runs through the streets of Manila, Dhaka, Karachi, and Bangkok.

The question now is not whether Asia can endure a few weeks of conservation measures, but what happens if the Strait stays closed for months. With no ceasefire in sight and Iran showing no signs of reopening the waterway, the emergency may only be beginning.