Welcome to our guide to the commodities driving the global economy. Today, oil and shipping reporter Weilun Soon says the mayhem in the Persian Gulf doesn't bode well for both ending the war and restraining crude prices.

The chaos in the Strait of Hormuz over the weekend was a reality check for the oil market about how hard it will be to reopen the vital waterway.

For a brief moment on Friday, it seemed as though the more than 800 vessels stuck in the Persian Gulf had a window of opportunity to make an escape after the Iranian foreign minister declared the strait "completely open."

But with the US refusing to lift its own blockade, the Iranians reversed their position within 24 hours and the strait became a picture of mayhem and panic.

As Tehran and Washington battled over the narrative of who had control of the corridor, it was the Iranians who first put words into action.

One Indian tanker that was attempting to exit was approached by small boats with armed men. Crew on board ships nearby heard a captain shouting in despair that his vessel was given clearance to transit, but was instead getting shot at.

Other vessels attempting to exit then U-turned en masse.

Not to be outdone, the US Navy fired upon and boarded an Iranian-flagged cargo ship in the Gulf of Oman, the first seizure of a vessel since it started its blockade.

The day of pandemonium left traffic through the strait back at a near standstill, with the double blockade remaining in place.

With the current ceasefire set to expire on Tuesday, the outlook for potential peace talks in Pakistan between the two sides isn't looking great. The Iranians say they see no "clear prospect" of an agreement, despite President Donald Trump's insistence that a deal is possible.

The global shipping community is struggling to make sense of the situation. Yet Brent crude was up only around 5% at the time of writing near $95 a barrel, indicating that many in the oil market still have a glass-half-full mindset about the prospect of a detente.

-- Weilun Soon, Bloomberg News

Chart of the day

Around the world, a wave of mega installations of batteries are lining up to be connected to the grid this year -- from solar hubs in Texas to grasslands in Inner Mongolia and the site of a former coal plant north of Sydney. BloombergNEF analysts had already expected installations to jump by about a third this year, but that momentum could build further if fuel disruptions due to the war in the Middle East persist.

Chaos in Hormuz Should Be a Reality Check for Oil Prices