Numbers Report – August 21, 2026 In the latest edition of the Numbers Report, we will take a look at some of the most interesting figures put out this week in the energy and metals sectors. Each week we’ll dig into some data and provide a bit of explanation on what drives the numbers. Let’s take a look. 1. US Oil Majors Turn Homeward as War Hits Output - US oil majors are increasingly prioritizing upstream investment in the US and the wider Americas region as Donald Trump’s war against Iran has slashed their 2026 production…

Saudi Arabia has boosted its crude oil exports from Egypt’s Mediterranean port of Sidi Kerir by about 33% in the month since the Houthis threatened Saudi oil shipments in the southern Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, tanker-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg showed on Friday. Saudi state oil giant Aramco, the world’s single largest crude oil exporter, has started shuttling oil from its Yanbu port on the Red Sea north toward Egypt to avoid the threat from the Iran-aligned Houthi group in Yemen. Western ship operators and owners,…

For the past several weeks, I have been working my way through the major findings in the Energy Institute’s 2026 Statistical Review of World Energy. This article concludes that series. For readers who want to catch up, the previous installments are: Energy Demand Outpaced the Transition in 2025 Global Emissions Hit a New Record as U.S. Emissions Rebounded The U.S. Is Both the World’s Top Oil Producer and Top Consumer The U.S. Supplied 93% of Global LNG Export Growth in 2025 Global Coal Use Hit a Record in 2025, Even as Coal Power Declined…

October WTI crude oil futures are trading at $86.31 late Thursday, up $4.82 or 5.91% for the week. The contract opened at $81.62, traded as low as $80.80, and reached $87.69. Friday’s session is still ahead, so the weekly result is not final. The market has already made its decision about the week. WTI rallied because the agreement traders were waiting for never appeared. The Strait of Hormuz is still operating far below normal. The ceasefire is finished. No talks are scheduled. Washington and Tehran are moving farther apart, not closer together.…

Politics, Geopolitics & Conflict Iran has warned Gulf states that any support for U.S. military operations will make them participants in the war, as the UAE cuts economic ties with Tehran. Iran says it’s tracking U.S. aircraft operating from regional bases. Abu Dhabi suspended all trade, commercial exchanges and financial transactions with Iran on Tuesday after accusing Tehran of firing two ballistic missiles toward vessels off the Emirati coast, which Iran has denied. Trump has now threatened “tremendous” economic consequences…

Israel is trying to establish a veto over where Turkey can deploy forces in Syria, and on Tuesday it bombed a Syrian airbase to enforce that. Eight strikes hit Abu al-Duhur because Israel determined that Damascus was gearing up to allow Turkish troops onto the base, despite repeated Israeli warnings against that. Turkey was not notified before the attack. The Turkish military saw Israeli aircraft flying north toward the Turkish border without knowing their target, creating what Washington viewed as a real risk of Turkish fighters being scrambled…

Nigeria’s Dangote Group has offered a 30% stake in a planned refinery in Kenya to East African nations, a senior economic adviser to Kenya’s President William Ruto said.  Dangote Group, the corporation of Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, plans to build a refinery in Kenya with a processing capacity of as much as 700,000 barrels per day of crude, which is estimated to cost about $17 billion. The refinery on Kenya’s Lamu Island would process crude for Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan, Rwanda, Burundi, and the democratic…

The new Nigerian incentives for offshore oil and gas projects have the potential to attract $50 billion in new investment in Nigeria’s offshore energy sector, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) has said. Nigeria, however, needs upskilled and additional numbers of skilled workers and employees, including in the digital industries, to take advantage of the new offshore opportunities, the regulator’s chief executive, Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, said at a human resources conference this week. Nigeria, which aims to boost…

Iranian crude oil cargoes readily available to Chinese buyers have nearly dried up following the reinstated U.S. blockade on Iran’s oil exports, suggesting that independent Chinese refiners, the biggest buyers of Iranian crude, may have to turn to alternative supply as soon as next month. Total Iranian crude volume outside the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman is currently about 83 million barrels, down from over 100 million barrels before the U.S. reinstated the blockade in the middle of July, when the U.S.-Iran talks to make a deal collapsed,…

Crude oil imports into China are set to rise by about 1.2 million barrels per day in the final quarter of the year from the current one, although they will likely remain lower than pre-war levels, Bloomberg has reported, citing energy consultancies. Oil purchases by Chinese refiners are climbing back towards 10 million barrels daily but may not hit that number until the end of the year, according to analysts from Rystad Energy, Energy Aspects, and FGE NexantECA. Fourth-quarter import rates could reach 9.9 million barrels daily, which would be much…

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has hailed a new offshore oil discovery by Petrobras (NYSE: PBR) near the mouth of the Amazon River as a "passport to the country's future", continuing his support for controversial oil and gas drilling in Amazon's ecologically sensitive regions. Last week, the state-run Oil & Gas giant announced it has found oil at the Morpho-1 well (Block FZA-M-59) in the mouth of the Amazon roughly 180 kilometres (112 miles) off the coast of Amapa state, “All of our studies indicate substantial potential.…

The Yemeni Houthis are planning to seize land along the Yemeni coast in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, tightening their control of the chokepoint. The information comes from the minister of information in the government that the Houthis are fighting in Yemen and suggests further disruption to marine traffic on one of the world’s busiest trade routes. “The Houthi militia... is working to create the conditions for seizing control of the Bab al-Mandab Strait by expanding its presence along the western coast and attempting to control strategic…

Global electric vehicle sales have surged this year following the oil supply disruption in the Middle East and the second oil price shock in four years. The accelerating EV adoption that began with the spike in oil and fuel prices earlier this year is set to remain a trend in the global markets and could push the share of EVs in the passenger fleet above earlier expectations, analysts at Wood Mackenzie say. Challenges to accelerated adoption still remain, including the need for billions of U.S. dollars in investments in critical battery minerals…

Washington is tightening the screws on Iran and loosening the rules on gasoline at the same time as Americans are paying more than $4 a gallon. The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday authorized an early switch to cheaper winter-grade gasoline, allowing sales of gasoline blended with 10% ethanol beginning September 1 rather than waiting for the normal mid-September seasonal transition. The administration says ending summer-blend requirements early could add hundreds of thousands of barrels per day to domestic gasoline supply and provide…

Washington is tightening the screws on Iran and loosening the rules on gasoline at the same time as Americans are paying more than $4 a gallon. The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday authorized an early switch to cheaper winter-grade gasoline, allowing sales of gasoline blended with 10% ethanol beginning September 1 rather than waiting for the normal mid-September seasonal transition. The administration says ending summer-blend requirements early could add hundreds of thousands of barrels per day to domestic gasoline supply and provide…

Solar power is far and away the world’s fastest-growing form of energy production, beating out every other form of energy on Earth in 2025. Despite a recent political pivot away from renewable energies in the world’s largest economy, solar power additions continue to shatter its own records year over year as the sector has long since outgrown any need for subsidies. Solar power has simply become too cheap to fail. “We have a plentiful and cheap source of electricity that can be built quickly, almost anywhere in the world,”…

Europe has discovered something unusual during the latest energy crisis: its emergency system actually works. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz removed or disrupted one of the largest flows of oil and gas in the world. Prices rose, shipping routes changed, insurance costs increased, and concerns emerged over the availability of refined products, particularly aviation fuel. Yet Europe did not run out of oil, diesel, or jet fuel. That outcome should not be dismissed. It resulted from decades of mandatory stockholding, coordinated emergency planning,…

China is buying more Russian oil to replace missing Iranian barrels. The problem for India is that some of those Russian barrels used to be its barrels. China’s seaborne imports of Russian crude are estimated at 1.25 million barrels per day in August, according to Kpler data, cited by Reuters. That is down from 1.423 million bpd in July, but July and August are still China’s strongest months for Russian seaborne crude since April. The shift comes as Chinese imports of Iranian oil remain crushed by the Middle East war and U.S. blockade.…

China is buying more Russian oil to replace missing Iranian barrels. The problem for India is that some of those Russian barrels used to be its barrels. China’s seaborne imports of Russian crude are estimated at 1.25 million barrels per day in August, according to Kpler data, cited by Reuters. That is down from 1.423 million bpd in July, but July and August are still China’s strongest months for Russian seaborne crude since April. The shift comes as Chinese imports of Iranian oil remain crushed by the Middle East war and U.S. blockade.…

Kazakhstan and, to a lesser extent, Uzbekistan and other Central Asian states are finding themselves caught in the middle of a deepening struggle between the United States and China for dominance of AI architecture and design. The brewing dilemma created by the AI rivalry has the potential to upend US relations with Central Asian states. The US State Department has drafted what amounts to an ultimatum and is reportedly preparing to deliver it to 35 states that have signed an AI cooperation pact with Washington, the Reuters news agency first reported.…