The Strait of Hormuz blockade has removed roughly 9 million barrels per day of crude supply from the global market, and replacement barrels are not keeping pace, according to a new report by Vortexa. U.S. Gulf Coast crude oil exports have reached record highs, although this has been in large part supported by releases from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Additional volumes are moving through alternative routes, including pipelines via Yanbu, Fujairah, and Ceyhan, which add about 3.6 million bpd back into the system. But it isn’t enough.…

Imports of liquefied natural gas into Asia last month slumped to the lowest in seven years. The reason, of course, was the war in the Middle East that has choked off about a quarter of global LNG supply, pushing prices higher and spurring a race for limited volumes. Most of those volumes are coming from the United States. Yet a future LNG boom is far from certain. Earlier this week, Emirati ADNOC said it would invest billions in the U.S. natural gas industry, including production, midstream, and liquefaction, as well as regasification in receiving…

The White House is weighing measures to increase U.S. oil output as supply disruptions tied to the Iran war continue to tighten the market. “We’ve been in constant communication with the oil companies, and have been considering measures that we could take here in the U.S. to increase U.S. production really soon,” White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said Thursday. “There are things, regulations that are holding up, like how quickly stuff could come through … and we’re studying those, how we can change…

The government is scrambling to secure UK airlines’ emergency access to jet fuel as global shipments fall to their lowest level on record. Global shipments of jet fuel have fallen to their lowest level on record, as the blockage to the Strait of Hormuz threatens to suffocate supply to the world’s airlines.  Under 2.3 million tonnes of jet fuel and kerosene were shipped around the world last week, according to analysts at Kpler, marking the lowest level since records began in 2017. Earlier this month, major UK carriers had warned…

One of Japan’s biggest energy firms, ENEOS, is re-entering the joint venture operating the Malaysia LNG Tiga project with a 10% stake under a deal it has signed with Malaysia’s state oil and gas firm Petronas.   ENEOS Xplora and Petronas on Thursday signed the definitive agreements formalizing ENEOS’ re-entry into Malaysia LNG Tiga Sdn. Bhd. (MLNG Tiga), the Malaysian company said in a statement. Subject to the fulfilment of certain closing conditions, ENEOS will hold a 10% equity stake in MLNG Tiga for the next decade.…

Israel Defense Minister Katz has said in a Thursday briefing: "It is possible that soon we will need to act again in Iran to ensure that the regime cannot threaten Israel for years to come," according to a local reporter. According to more, he said that while Israel supports the United States' diplomatic efforts with Iran, it may "soon be required to act again" to remove the "existential threats" posed by the Islamic Republic. "Iran has suffered extremely severe blows over the past year, blows that have set it back years in all areas," Katz…

California's average gasoline price surged to above $6 per gallon on Thursday, the first U.S. state to top this threshold since the Iran war rattled markets. The U.S. benchmark crude price, WTI Crude, had jumped to $106 per barrel in Asian trade on Thursday, driving sustained increases in U.S. gasoline prices—a political hot potato for the Trump Administration ahead of the midterm elections in November. Crude oil prices have rallied in recent days amid fears of a prolonged U.S. blockade outside the Strait of Hormuz and reports of potential…

Weeks of US and Israeli air strikes, sanctions, and restrictions have hit Iran hard, but it could be geology that eventually pushes it into making concessions in its ongoing standoff with the United States. As the US naval blockade of Iran approaches the end of its third week, data from shipping and industry monitors suggests that tankers have been unable to move Iranian crude through the Strait of Hormuz toward markets in Asia. This means that Iranian oil storage capacity is rapidly filling, and the clock is ticking before Iran will need to cease…

Oil prices continued to climb in early Asian trade on Thursday, with traders pricing in a prolonged disruption to Middle East supply flows as inventories continue to shrink. Brent crude for July delivery climbed to $113.09, up 2.65%, while West Texas Intermediate rose 2.28% to trade at $109.30. Notably, the expiring front-month Brent contract was trading at over $121, highlighting just how tight prompt supply has become in the region. The latest rally has come on the back of failed diplomatic efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and a continuing…

Failed peace talks and the ongoing disruption at the Strait of Hormuz reminded the world what a chokepoint looks like. Oil spiked. The Dow dropped. Investors scrambled for safe havens. Then, just as quickly, the tension eased again. This kind of week forces a question: what other chokepoints are hiding in plain sight? There's one that could make Hormuz look manageable in one sense. Oil has dozens of global suppliers. When one source gets disrupted, others fill the gap. Prices spike, then stabilize. The system bends but doesn't break. Domestic rare…

California is one of the places where fuel prices have long traded above global averages, but the current crisis is pushing that premium into uncharted territory. A steadily shrinking refining base and declining domestic oil production had already tightened the system. However, the disruption in the Strait of Hormuz is now amplifying those pressures into something far more serious. Gasoline prices are soaring and have already approached all-time highs of almost $6/USG, while in-state production continues to fall at even higher pace this month,…

Oil prices extended their rally on Wednesday after reports emerged that the U.S. will tighten its blockade on Iranian ports, prolonging fears of reduced oil supply from the region, and as the UAE hit markets with its OPEC-exit announcement. Brent crude for June delivery jumped 6.45% to trade at $118.40 per barrel at 2.47 pm ET, while the corresponding WTI crude contract was up 7.20% to change hands at $107.10/bbl. Gasoline prices also continue to edge higher, with AAA reporting the average national price at $4.229 per barrel. The stalemate in the…

The blockage of the Strait of Hormuz is causing a much larger problem than just a global energy crisis. While oil and gas are critical to energy security for nearly every country on Earth, petroleum is also at the heart of global food systems. A crude oil shortage is also a fertilizer shortage, with potentially disastrous consequences for farmers and consumers, especially in the world’s poorest countries. As the war in Iran stretches on, half the world’s calories are at risk. Roughly half of all fertilizer feedstock exports in the world…

Oil tanker traffic through the Panama Canal has jumped in recent weeks as Asia scrambles to buy U.S. crude amid choked supply from the Middle East. The Panama Canal, the fastest route for American energy exports to Asia on smaller vessels, is at its busiest for U.S. crude exports in four years as the closed Strait of Hormuz has forced Asian buyers to source oil from regions other than the Middle East. The price of booking a last-minute slot to have a tanker pass through the Panama Canal has nearly tripled to almost $400,000 since the Iran war began,…

The current average price for gasoline in the US is $4.17 per gallon, according to AAA’s April 28 data. That’s 15 cents higher than a week ago and $1.02 more than the year-ago average, or a 32% increase. President Trump recently said he expects higher gas prices to last until at least the November mid-term elections. Prices are based on the price of crude oil, which accounts for 40-70% of the cost at the pump. The Brent crude international price of oil is currently about $110 per barrel. It was $70.75 the day before the US and Israel…

They may have agreed on a provisional peace agreement last August, but Armenia and Azerbaijan nevertheless each had some of the highest military spending as a share of GDP in the world in 2025, according to data compiled by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.  Azerbaijan ranked 6th (6.5 percent) and Armenia 7th (6.1 percent) in SIPRI’s Top Ten countries in terms of highest military spending last year. The country with the highest spending on defense was, not surprisingly, Ukraine at 40 percent. Russia (7.5 percent)…

A major fire reportedly broke out on Wednesday at a Russian oil pumping station in the Perm region in the Ural Mountains in a suspected drone attack just a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy touted the increasing range and accuracy of Ukrainian drones.  Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) targeted a production and dispatch station owned by Transneft more than 1,500 kilometers from Ukraine’s border, with unconfirmed reports indicating that almost all oil storage tanks at the facility were set ablaze.  Perm Governor…

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced on Wednesday that the country’s oil import bill has jumped 167% to $800 million per week amid the war in Iran from around $300 million weekly before the conflict began. Brent crude for June delivery was trading at $114.75 per barrel at 7.00 am ET on Wednesday, a big jump from the low 70s before the war, while the corresponding WTI crude contract was changing hands at $103.33/bbl from mid 60s in late February. According to Prime Minister Sharif, the spike in fuel prices has “dented…

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced on Wednesday that the country’s oil import bill has jumped 167% to $800 million per week amid the war in Iran from around $300 million weekly before the conflict began. Brent crude for June delivery was trading at $114.75 per barrel at 7.00 am ET on Wednesday, a big jump from the low 70s before the war, while the corresponding WTI crude contract was changing hands at $103.33/bbl from mid 60s in late February. According to Prime Minister Sharif, the spike in fuel prices has “dented…

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced on Wednesday that the country’s oil import bill has jumped 167% to $800 million per week amid the war in Iran from around $300 million weekly before the conflict began. Brent crude for June delivery was trading at $114.75 per barrel at 7.00 am ET on Wednesday, a big jump from the low 70s before the war, while the corresponding WTI crude contract was changing hands at $103.33/bbl from mid 60s in late February. According to Prime Minister Sharif, the spike in fuel prices has “dented…