Why the end of the war won't solve the oil crisis
Since the US war with Iran began at the end of February, the price of oil has risen and fallen on the likelihood of it ending soon.
But even if the ceasefire with Iran holds, it would take weeks - if not longer - for oil and gas suppliers in the Persian Gulf to resume production as usual.
Producers in the region have sought to get every drop of oil into storage, onto tankers and trucks or down alternative pipelines so they don't have to stop drilling.
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Twenty per cent of the world's oil supply comes through the Strait of Hormuz. AP
But now almost everywhere has halted because they have run out of ways to store it.
When the war ends, turning the supply lines back on will take time.
"There's always going to be a ramp-up period, especially after a long period of shutdown, you need to check that everything's working," Monash University associate professor of civil environmental engineering Stuart Walsh told nine.com.au.
"You probably don't want to be rushing into that."
The longer it's stopped, the longer it will take to start up again.
That's not taking into account the damage that oil and gas infrastructure has suffered from Iranian airstrikes.
For now, there's genuine fear prices will get far worse than the current price for a barrel for crude oil if the war drags on.
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Damage after a drone attack at Ras Tanura oil refinery in Saudi Arabia. AP
While $US200 a barrel prices are far from certain, they are a possibility.
"We could reach $200 a barrel with the current crisis," Walsh said.
"This is an unprecedented amount of disruption, but also we're in a very different place than we were under previous shocks."
There is some hope the high prices could motivate companies to start drilling in some previously unprofitable areas.
That could alleviate supply problems but not necessarily the high prices.
Most of those places are in the US, where technological breakthroughs in recent years have made it the world's biggest oil exporter.
But with the cost of crude oil jumping up and down so violently, many oil companies are hesitant to open up new wells.
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Much of Australia's petrol is bought in refined form from South Korea. Adobe Stock
The sad reality is, it takes a substantial amount of time to start a new well.
Oil companies are conscious that by the time they have started extracting crude, the crisis will be over and prices will have dropped.
Meanwhile, despite its plentiful output of oil, the United States has not been spared from shortages at petrol stations.
CBS Miami has reported service stations in south Florida are running out of petrol.
The shortages have been blamed on panic buying.
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