The Iran crisis is teaching the world that energy security means turning domestic resources into fuel, chemicals and resilience. America should compete, not leave the field to China.

The Iran crisis is teaching the world that energy security means turning domestic resources into fuel, chemicals and resilience. America should compete, not leave the field to China.

The Iran war has made the Strait of Hormuz a daily worry for Wall Street, Washington and Main Street alike as the ongoing conflict threatens traffic through the world’s most important oil and liquefied natural gas chokepoint. The U.S. Energy Information Administration calls Hormuz the world’s most important oil transit chokepoint, and separately reports that roughly one-fifth of global LNG trade moved through the strait in 2024.

And while that story is well covered, the downstream effects are less publicized. When oil and gas supplies become hostage to Tehran’s threats, countries that import petroleum products start looking to make more essentials at home. Coal gasification, a technology already quietly gaining ground before the conflict, is one answer. The Department of Energy describes gasification as a process for converting domestic coal, biomass and waste into synthesis gas, or syngas, that can be used to produce chemicals, hydrogen, transportation fuels and other products. Across Asia, coal has evolved from simply a power-plant fuel into a building block of national resilience.

China recognized this years ago. Despite a slowdown in the construction of coal-fired power plants, Chinese coal companies are expanding coal-to-chemicals production as Middle East instability constrains oil supply. Reuters reported in March that China’s coal-to-chemicals sector benefits from its ability to turn domestic coal into petroleum products and chemicals without relying on........

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