The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has redrawn the global energy landscape, sending oil prices sharply higher, fueling inflationary pressures across major economies, and intensifying competition among oil-producing nations.

Against that backdrop, Igor Sechin, the powerful chief executive of Rosneft and a long-time ally of Vladimir Putin, argued on Saturday that American energy producers have emerged as the biggest winners from the turmoil.

Speaking at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Sechin said the disruption of one of the world’s most important energy chokepoints had fundamentally altered market dynamics and handed U.S. producers a significant competitive advantage.

“The closure of the Strait of Hormuz is an attempt to reshape global energy market regulations to benefit the United States. The measures taken to block the strait were aimed at Iran, but backfired on the entire world. The strategic risks were underestimated,” Sechin said.

“The main beneficiaries, of course, were American companies, who gained non-competitive advantages and the ability to secure high-cost supplies,” he added.

The Strait of Hormuz has long been regarded as one of the most strategically important waterways in the global economy, serving as a transit route for roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil supplies as well as significant volumes of liquefied natural gas, petrochemicals, and fertilizers. Disruption to traffic through the corridor has reverberated across energy, shipping, and financial markets for months now.

The closure of the strait, which followed the escalation of conflict involving Iran, Israel, and the United States, has triggered a sharp rise in crude prices and renewed concerns about energy security. Higher fuel costs have already begun feeding into broader inflation pressures at a time when many economies were hoping for a period of price stability.

Sechin argued that while the measures were directed at Iran, the consequences have spread far beyond the region, affecting consumers, industries, and governments around the world.

His comments also highlight a growing geopolitical struggle over the future structure of global energy markets. Russia has repeatedly accused Western countries of using sanctions, trade restrictions, and geopolitical pressure to reshape commodity flows and strengthen their own strategic positions.

Beyond the immediate impact of the Hormuz disruption, Sechin warned that vulnerabilities remain across several other critical maritime routes that underpin international trade.

He said major shipping corridors, including the Strait of Malacca, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, and the Strait of Gibraltar, could also face disruption risks, raising the prospect of further instability in global supply chains if geopolitical tensions continue to intensify.

Such concerns weigh heavily on energy markets. Together, those routes carry enormous volumes of crude oil, refined fuels, manufactured goods, and raw materials. Any sustained disruption would likely increase transportation costs, prolong supply shortages, and place additional pressure on inflation worldwide.

Weighing The Effectiveness of the OPEC+ Alliance

Sechin used the forum appearance to address another issue that has long divided opinion within the oil industry: the effectiveness of the OPEC+ alliance.

Known for his skepticism toward Russia’s cooperation with the producer group, Sechin argued that OPEC+ has become weaker following the withdrawal of the United Arab Emirates and earlier departures by countries including Qatar.

“As a result, the alliance’s production has fallen from 58 to 37 million barrels per day over the past ten years,” he said.

His remarks point to broader questions about the group’s future influence. OPEC+ was formed to coordinate production policies among major oil-exporting nations and stabilize global markets. For years, the alliance played a central role in balancing supply and demand, particularly during periods of market volatility.

However, changing geopolitical realities, diverging national interests, and the emergence of new production centers have complicated that mission.

Sechin also argued that while many major OPEC+ members have expanded production since the cooperation agreement was established in 2016, Russia has experienced a significant decline.

“Most major OPEC+ members have increased production since the agreement was signed in 2016. In Russia, oil production fell by 1.5 million barrels per day,” he said.

“This is a 15% decline that will need to be offset by necessary investments of at least ten trillion rubles. We expect that investment cooperation between the alliance’s member countries and our country will also expand.”

This inadvertently exposed the scale of the challenge facing Russia’s energy sector. Maintaining output levels will require substantial investment at a time when global energy markets are being reshaped by geopolitical tensions, supply disruptions, and the growing competition for market share among major producers.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang arrived in South Korea on Friday bearing a message that the next major chapter of the artificial intelligence revolution may be written in robotics, and South Korea is uniquely positioned to lead it.

Making his second visit to the country in seven months, Huang used the trip to underscore the strategic role South Korea plays in Nvidia’s global AI ecosystem. While the country has become indispensable to Nvidia’s supply chain through its dominance in advanced memory chips, Huang is indicating that the relationship is evolving into something broader, encompassing robotics, AI factories, industrial automation, and physical AI systems.

“Because Korea is a manufacturing center of the world, we can apply the robotics technology, the physical AI technology that we invent here for the industry,” Huang told reporters after arriving at Gimpo International Airport from Taiwan.

“So we have a great opportunity to partner with the semiconductor companies here as well.”

Having established itself as the dominant supplier of AI chips powering data centers worldwide, Nvidia seems focused on what comes next: embedding AI into physical systems ranging from factories and warehouses to autonomous machines and humanoid robots.

For South Korea, a country whose industrial strength spans automobiles, shipbuilding, electronics, and semiconductors, that transition presents a potentially enormous opportunity.

Huang’s schedule reflects the breadth of Nvidia’s ambitions, meeting with executives from Hyundai Motor, LG, SK Hynix, Samsung Electronics, and Naver during the visit.

Asked whether he had brought any gifts to South Korea, Huang responded with characteristic flair.

“Did I bring any gifts for Korea? I brought a lot of business for Korea,” he said. “I have some surprises.”

Nvidia’s dependence on South Korea has grown substantially as demand for AI infrastructure accelerates. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix collectively produce roughly 70% of the high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips used in advanced AI processors, making them critical partners in Nvidia’s growth.

At a dinner in Seoul with LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, and Naver founder Lee Hae-jin, Huang emphasized the mutual benefits of the AI boom.

“We are all booming,” he told attendees.

“My friends here had a very good year, but this is just the beginning.”

He added that Nvidia’s next-generation systems would require substantial quantities of memory chips, reinforcing expectations that demand for Korean semiconductor products will remain strong for years.

That demand is already reshaping South Korea’s economy. The country’s semiconductor exports surged nearly 170% in May, reaching a record level and helping drive the strongest export growth seen in decades. Investors have rewarded the sector accordingly, with Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix each surpassing the $1 trillion market-capitalization threshold amid the AI-driven rally.

However, the significance of Huang’s visit extends beyond memory chips. At Computex in Taiwan earlier this week, Nvidia highlighted robotics as a central pillar of its future strategy. The company sees physical AI, machines capable of perceiving, reasoning, and acting in real-world environments, as the next major computing platform after cloud AI.

South Korea’s advanced manufacturing infrastructure makes it an attractive proving ground for such technologies. Analysts have noted that factories, logistics networks, automotive production facilities, and industrial automation systems provide ideal environments for deploying AI-powered robots at scale. As companies seek to improve productivity amid labor shortages and rising costs, demand for intelligent machines is expected to grow rapidly.

Thus, Nvidia is expanding its footprint in South Korea beyond procurement and partnerships. Huang confirmed the company has begun recruiting for a research and development center in Seoul, signaling a longer-term commitment to the country.

He also addressed concerns about memory supply constraints, noting that Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron Technology are all producing HBM4 memory for Nvidia’s upcoming Vera Rubin AI platform.

“All three vendors are in production, and they are all racing to support Vera Rubin,” Huang said.

“Of course memory is constrained and so we have to be smart about using it in all of our systems.”

The trip is believed to be a major mark of the growing ties between Nvidia and South Korea. As the AI industry evolves from training models in data centers to deploying intelligence throughout the physical economy, the relationship between the world’s leading AI chip company and one of the world’s most advanced manufacturing nations appears set to deepen further.