Dan Marks

Dan Marks, energy security researcher at defence think-tank the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi), predicted that energy prices would likely remain stable in the short term because “supply and demand fundamentals seem to be much more influential at the moment than geopolitics”.

No country with a manufacturing sector as large as the UK or with similar GDP or population produces as little steel as the UK already. France has a similar kind of characteristic and produces about double the amount of steel.

While the knock-on effects have so far been limited, “the regional gas market is more exposed” and could make bringing in gas via sea costlier and more complex, said Dan Marks, energy security expert at the Royal United Services Institute. “As the global LNG market has been tight since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and is likely to remain so until 2025, this could have price implications,” he said. “Egypt’s positioning as a regional gas hub and domestic political pressure around energy prices, combined with the impact on Suez Canal revenues, mean it has a number of reasons to remain engaged with Israel and to push for a ceasefire.”