For decades, the U.S. military procurement system operated on a quiet assumption: the global supply chain would always be there. Parts would arrive. Materials would be available. Someone, somewhere, would have what was needed. That assumption is now gone. China's export restrictions on rare earth materials, imposed in late 2025, removed any remaining doubt about where the vulnerability was. Beijing didn't threaten to cut off raw ore, it blocked the processed metals and alloys that actually go into guidance systems, drone motors, and fighter jets.…

The Group CEO of ADNOC has called on the world to act together to protect the free flow of energy through the Strait of Hormuz in order to avoid a major economic collapse. He described Iran’s actions in the Strait of Hormuz as an act of “global economic extortion,” and emphasized the impact of the blockade beyond just oil markets. Traffic at the Strait of Hormuz has been at a near standstill for over a month now, with a limited number of vessels transiting the world’s most critical oil and gas chokepoint at Iran’s…

Long-suffering energy investors finally have a reason to smile, with the sector on track to outperform the broader market by its widest margin on record, driven by Middle East conflict, rising demand from the AI boom, and a continued rotation away from expensive technology and growth stocks. The energy sector's 14-week winning streak far exceeds previous bull runs, including the nine-week streak it posted back in 2007 thanks to the nearly 50% surge in oil prices triggered by the Middle East conflict. The S&P 500 Energy Sector has returned 36.5%…

The temporary easing of U.S. sanctions on Russian crude has rapidly redrawn global oil flows, with India stepping back in as the dominant buyer of previously distressed barrels. Even as overall imports are about to ease seasonally, Russian volumes into Asia are surging—tightening the market and pushing Urals to a rare $8/bbl premium over Brent. Washington’s March 12 decision to allow sales of oil already loaded onto tankers had an immediate impact. Almost all of Russia’s floating storage was quickly absorbed, pulling hesitant…

The UK cannot wind power itself out of the new energy crisis resulting from the war in the Middle East. With about a third of its electricity generation typically coming from gas-fired power plants, the UK is feeling the energy shock after oil and gas prices soared in the month since the war in Iran began. And the UK is likely to feel the worst of the energy price shock, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). That’s despite the record wind power generation in the first quarter of 2026 and the new daily record in wind power output…

Nuclear energy is once again at the center of fierce debate between European leaders as a new energy crisis sweeps the world, leaving the import-dependent European Union scrambling for alternative energy sources. The bloc still imports more than half of its energy needs, leaving it extremely vulnerable to global market shocks, like the unprecedented interruption to oil and gas supplies currently taking place in the Strait of Hormuz as the United States and Israel continue to wage war with Iran. In order to keep the lights on and prevent huge numbers…

Supply chain disruptions caused by the U.S. and Israeli war on Iran have sent ripples across industries, but information technology stands out as particularly vulnerable. That’s because of its expansive growth plans, which need certain ingredients to work out, from energy to helium. Cheap energy is one of these ingredients, and cheap energy has swung from a perceived surplus into a definite and acute shortage in most of the world as a result of the energy export disruption in the Middle East. Some argue that the U.S. market is insulated thanks…

President Donald Trump has told Sir Keir Starmer that the UK will have to “fight for yourself” as the US would not provide any support in fuel supplies. In another threat targeted at Starmer posted on his own social media platform, the US president mocked the UK’s struggles in obtaining jet fuel because of a block across the Strait of Hormuz, which has come as a result of the US and Israel’s war against Iran. He said that the UK could “buy from the US” or “build up some delayed courage” and “go…

In the furore of the U.S./Israel- Iran conflict, the key question of who will finally be chosen as Iraq’s new prime minister remains unanswered. In the immediate aftermath of the country’s 11 November parliamentary elections, the broadly pro-West sitting Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al?Sudani looked the more likely of the candidates to emerge the victor. His Reconstruction and Development Coalition was the largest faction in the vote, winning 1.3 million votes out of nearly 11 million cast, beating the pro-Iran State…

Traders have poured a record $977 million into the ProShares UltraShort Bloomberg Crude Oil ETF (SCO), a leveraged bet that oil prices will collapse from their war-driven highs. Despite the high-volume, double-leveraged bet, the ETF still dropped 41% in March, its worst month in nearly six years, highlighting the ETF’s high risk in volatile markets. Oil prices have pulled back from recent highs after U.S. President Donald Trump announced that he is looking to wind up the Iran war soon. The ProShares UltraShort Bloomberg Crude Oil ETF is a…

Traders have poured a record $977 million into the ProShares UltraShort Bloomberg Crude Oil ETF (SCO), a leveraged bet that oil prices will collapse from their war-driven highs. Despite the high-volume, double-leveraged bet, the ETF still dropped 41% in March, its worst month in nearly six years, highlighting the ETF’s high risk in volatile markets. Oil prices have pulled back from recent highs after U.S. President Donald Trump announced that he is looking to wind up the Iran war soon. The ProShares UltraShort Bloomberg Crude Oil ETF is a…

Traders have poured a record $977 million into the ProShares UltraShort Bloomberg Crude Oil ETF (SCO), a leveraged bet that oil prices will collapse from their war-driven highs. Despite the high-volume, double-leveraged bet, the ETF still dropped 41% in March, its worst month in nearly six years, highlighting the ETF’s high risk in volatile markets. Oil prices have pulled back from recent highs after U.S. President Donald Trump announced that he is looking to wind up the Iran war soon. The ProShares UltraShort Bloomberg Crude Oil ETF is a…

The Iran war and effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz has stranded the majority of Middle East oil exports, putting the region’s key oil benchmark under a lot of pressure. The Dubai crude benchmark--a vital marker for Middle Eastern oil flowing to Asia--used to price ~18 million barrels per day primarily based on crude oil grades from the United Arab Emirates (specifically Upper Zakum and Murban), Oman and Qatar.  According to Reuters, three of the five crude grades that normally underpin the benchmark are now effectively sidelined…

Oil prices on Wednesday morning dipped some 2% as U.S. President Donald Trump signaled that the United States may wind down its military operations in Iran soon, while threatening to quit NATO for its lack of support in the Middle East operation. Iran announced on Tuesday it was ready to reach a resolution or intensify attacks on U.S. assets and its allies, without offering more details how this would be achieved considering the conflicting demands between the two sides. Two Pakistan sources told Reuters that neither side had responded to Islamabad's…

Oil prices on Wednesday morning dipped some 2% as U.S. President Donald Trump signaled that the United States may wind down its military operations in Iran soon, while threatening to quit NATO for its lack of support in the Middle East operation. Iran announced on Tuesday it was ready to reach a resolution or intensify attacks on U.S. assets and its allies, without offering more details how this would be achieved considering the conflicting demands between the two sides. Two Pakistan sources told Reuters that neither side had responded to Islamabad's…

Oil prices on Wednesday morning dipped some 2% as U.S. President Donald Trump signaled that the United States may wind down its military operations in Iran soon, while threatening to quit NATO for its lack of support in the Middle East operation. Iran announced on Tuesday it was ready to reach a resolution or intensify attacks on U.S. assets and its allies, without offering more details how this would be achieved considering the conflicting demands between the two sides. Two Pakistan sources told Reuters that neither side had responded to Islamabad's…

Oil prices on Wednesday morning dipped some 2% as U.S. President Donald Trump signaled that the United States may wind down its military operations in Iran soon, while threatening to quit NATO for its lack of support in the Middle East operation. Iran announced on Tuesday it was ready to reach a resolution or intensify attacks on U.S. assets and its allies, without offering more details how this would be achieved considering the conflicting demands between the two sides. Two Pakistan sources told Reuters that neither side had responded to Islamabad's…

For years, the Caspian Sea was the safe zone of the alliance between Russia and Iran -- a landlocked black hole invisible to Western eyes. While the inland waterway has served as a sanctuary for Iranian drones bound for the battlefields of Ukraine in Moscow's ongoing full-scale invasion, Israel recently launched air strikes on Bandar Anzali, an Iranian naval outpost on the Caspian. Growing media reports based on intelligence say the corridor is now being used to transfer Russian-produced weaponry back to the Middle East, bringing Israeli air strikes…

Crude oil inventories in the United States increased by 5.5 million barrels during the week ending March 27, according to new data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released on Wednesday. The increase brings commercial stockpiles to 461.6 million barrels according to government data, which is 0.1% above the five-year average for this time of year. The EIA’s data release follows API’s figures that were released a day earlier, which reported that crude oil inventories saw a build of 10.263 million barrels in the period.…

Since the start of the Middle East war, China has been reselling record volumes of LNG to other Asian buyers as its own demand has been tepid and stocks and gas supplies sufficient. In March alone, China resold up to 10 cargoes of LNG—a record-high for any month ever, according to data from energy analytics firms Vortexa, Kpler, and ICIS cited by Reuters. Year to date, China has also resold record volumes of LNG, an estimated 1.31 million tons, shipped to South Korea, Thailand, Japan, India, and the Philippines, per data from Kpler. This…