How Asia became ground zero for the oil crisis
The Take
Al Jazeera
4.7 • 748 Ratings
🗓️ 6 April 2026
⏱️ 22 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
As oil flows come under threat due to the Iran war, parts of Asia are already under strain. Fuel supplies are tightening, prices are rising, and some countries warn stocks may run out. Far from the battlefield, the impact is immediate. What does this reveal about just how fragile the global energy system is?
In this episode:
- Vina Nadjibulla (@VinaNadjibulla), Vice-President of Research & Strategy, The Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada
Episode credits:
This episode was produced by Marcos Bartolomé and Sarí el-Khalili with Spencer Cline, Chloe K. Li, Tuleen Barakat and our host, Malika Bilal. It was edited by Tamara Khandaker and Sarí el-Khalili. Our sound designer is Alex Roldan.
The Take production team is Marcos Bartolomé, Sonia Bhagat, Spencer Cline, Sarí el-Khalili, Tamara Khandaker, Chloe K. Li, Alexandra Locke, Melanie Marich, Catherine Nouhan, Alex Roldan, and Noor Wazwaz. Our host is Malika Bilal.
Our editorial interns are Maya Hamadeh and Tuleen Barakat. Our engagement producers are Adam Abou-Gad and Vienna Maglio. Andrew Greiner is lead of audience engagement. Our video editors are Hisham Abu Salah and Mohannad al-Melhem. Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Al Jazeera Podcasts. |
| 0:07.0 | Today, as the oil crisis moves into daily life, is Asia, the canary and the coal mine. |
| 0:18.0 | Fuel prices in the Philippines are skyrocketing. The price of diesel in particular |
| 0:23.2 | has doubled. Asia's being hit first by the oil shock from the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, |
| 0:30.2 | but the rest of the world may not be far behind. I'm Malika Bilal and this is The Take. |
| 0:44.8 | Hey everyone. Today would be a really great day to subscribe to The Take on your podcast app. |
| 0:51.6 | We ask because we want more people to get their daily news podcasts from Al Jazeera. |
| 0:56.5 | And leave us a review. |
| 0:58.3 | It helps other people discover the show you already know about. |
| 1:02.1 | Thank you. |
| 1:06.1 | My name is Vina Najibola. |
| 1:08.0 | I'm the vice president of research and Strategy of the Asia-Pacific |
| 1:11.1 | Foundation of Canada, and I am speaking to you from Vancouver, Canada. |
| 1:16.1 | Well, Vina, welcome back to the take. It's good to have you back on. So there are a lot of |
| 1:21.8 | really scary headlines when it comes to news around the U.S.- Israeli war on Iran. But outside of Iran, Lebanon, |
| 1:31.3 | and the Gulf, the most alarming ones might be coming from the rest of Asia. So I'm going to just take |
| 1:37.1 | off a few. And Bangladesh, the war is making it harder to keep the lights on 2,000 miles away. |
| 1:45.5 | Sri Lanka announces four-day work week, declares Wednesdays off to save fuel. |
| 1:50.7 | And the Philippines has 45 days of fuel left, declaring state of emergency. |
| 1:57.6 | You were just in the Philippines when the president declared that national emergency. Take us there. |
| 2:03.9 | How did that go down? Yes, you're absolutely right, Malika, that Philippines is 7,000 kilometers |
| 2:11.2 | away from the Middle East, and yet the impact of the war was felt almost immediately, both by the government, in terms of how the |
... |
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