Map showing the location of the Strait of Hormuz.
© Adobe Stock - calido
The conflict that has been affecting the Middle East since 28 February 2026 is sending shock waves through all the world's mineral resources markets, over and above its impact on the oil and gas markets. The region is a strategic gateway for maritime transport due to its geographical position, and plays a key role in the supply of aluminium, sulphur and helium, whose production requires natural gas. More indirectly, it also affects other metals whose industries depend on either oil or sulphur, such as nickel, titanium and copper.
Restrictions on transport through the Strait of Hormuz, through which almost 34% of the world's crude oil and 19% of its liquefied natural gas passed in 2025, act as a geopolitical stranglehold with repercussions across all industrial value chains, far beyond hydrocarbons and petrochemicals.
The Observatoire français des ressources minérales pour les filières industrielles (OFREMI), coordinated by BRGM, sheds incisive light on this crisis by offering a global strategic picture of mineral resource supply chains, beyond energy dynamics alone. Through its expertise in critical metals and minerals across the whole of their value chains, it highlights the systemic and often underestimated effects of this type of conflict on all the strategic sectors of our economy.
Helium: an unprecedented global shortage
Helium is a by-product of the processing of natural gas during liquefaction. Around a third of the world's helium is produced at the Ras Laffan site in Qatar.
The disruption in supply is likely to have a major long-term impact on the industry, as this element is essential to the manufacture of semi-conductors, as well as some medical equipment.
Locations along the aluminium value chain in the Middle East.
© Ofremi
Aluminium: a regional industry paralysed and rising prices expected
The production of aluminium metal from alumina, itself derived from bauxite, requires a great deal of energy. It is generally produced where it is available at a low cost, in foundries fuelled by natural gas. This is why around 10% of the world's aluminium production capacity is located in the Persian Gulf. The lack of gas and the disruption of alumina imports from Australia have led to production stoppages.
This situation is likely to exacerbate the rise in aluminium prices, which have already been rising for a year. Europe and the United States depend on aluminium imports from the Persian Gulf, and are therefore particularly vulnerable to changes in the market.
Leading sulphur producers in 2024.
© Ofremi
Sulphur: a critical link threatening global agriculture, and other sectors too
In the Persian Gulf, sulphur is hardly ever extracted from mines but is co-produced from hydrocarbons, particularly natural gas and oil, which are rich in sulphur. The Gulf States supply a quarter of the world's sulphur. Sulphur is essential for the manufacture of phosphate fertilisers, as well as sulphuric acid, which is needed for copper and nickel metallurgy and many other industrial processes.
Supply disruptions could lead to a spike in fertiliser prices and, in the longer term, competing demands in the agricultural sector as well as protectionist measures, particularly by China, which is now the world's leading sulphur producer.
Nickel: Indonesia in trouble
Indonesian factories using the High-Pressure Acid Leaching, or HPAL, process produce 70% of the nickel-based intermediate products used in batteries. Now, this industry uses sulphuric acid produced from sulphur imported from the Middle East.
With stocks barely covering a month’s needs, some facilities have already suspended production. This tense situation could disrupt the global high-performance battery chain for electric vehicles.
Copper and titanium: indirect impacts for the time being
Copper is not directly threatened, but its production also depends on sulphuric acid, which is used in metallurgical processes. As the price of copper is highly dependent on the state of the world economy, it could be affected if its production is held back by rising oil prices.
As for titanium, Saudi Arabia has a titanium sponge factory (a porous, irregular form of titanium obtained by reducing titanium tetrachloride, which is one of the forms of titanium traded worldwide), located on the shores of the Red Sea. It is a critical material for the aeronautical industry.
Although this industrial site is not very exposed at present, it could become so if the conflict were to spread to the Red Sea.
A global shock with lasting repercussions
The crisis in the Middle East cannot be reduced to a simple geopolitical episode: it reveals the structural sensitivity of global supply chains, triggering a cascade of vulnerabilities. Oil, gas, helium, sulphur, aluminium, nickel are all essential resources, the availability of which affects industrial sectors, particularly those involved in the energy transition.
If the war continues, conflicting demands could escalate, leading to a general rise in production costs for companies, a lasting increase in prices and supply risks in certain sectors. Securing supplies of mineral resources by diversifying production sites is more important than ever.
