Oil prices climbed about 7% following the attack on Iran by Israel and the U.S. That could mean the cost of travel, either by car or airplane, could spike depending on how long the escalating war in the Middle East lasts.
HPR sat down with Mark Glick, the chief energy officer at the Hawaiʻi State Energy Office, to discuss how the shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz might affect the state's oil shipments, as well as dependence on jet fuel from South Korea.
Interview Highlights
On Hawaiʻi's oil and fuel from Libya and South Korea
MARK GLICK: When it comes to crude oil, we're not affected by the Strait of Hormuz, but we do have — the Libyan oil, in particular, goes through the Red Sea, so that means it goes through the Suez Canal. There may be some disruptions with that. There currently aren't, as we speak. We have an enormous amount of jet fuel that comes from South Korea and some other products like gasoline and diesel, and the crude that South Korea gets comes through the Strait of Hormuz, about 70% of it. And we get about 93% of all of our jet fuel from essentially South Korea. So having two-thirds of it roughly subject to that is really worrisome. ... Korea certainly stockpiles a lot of crude, so it thinks it can last months through stuff like this.
On oil price volatility affecting Hawaiʻi's energy prices
GLICK: What always happens immediately is that we get price increases from oil price volatility. And I've been preaching, you know, to a lot of people that have been listening, how important we remove ourselves from the risk of oil price volatility. Because this happens every 18 months, or every couple years — we'll have a geopolitical situation, and then all of a sudden, all of our prices, and we're talking about electricity, we're talking about gasoline and diesel, jet fuel — so all of those things, we'll encounter some price increases to that, depending on how long the event is. And we just need to remove ourselves from that cycle.
On energy strategies for the future
GLICK: Obviously, the other big thing we must continue to do is accelerate our transition to renewables. And, you know, we're trying to do that. The governor put out Executive Order 25-10 to try to take advantage of the tax credits while they're still there. And we're working on that with a lot of energy stakeholders, and obviously looking again, more seriously at geothermal. And, you know, future additional solar and battery projects are really going to be highly critical.
This story aired on The Conversation on March 3, 2026. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m.
