The war in Iran is sending shockwaves through global energy markets that will be felt for years to come. The conflict is causing the single biggest oil supply disruption in history, as the closure of the Strait of Hormuz has caused a nine-day disruption of 20 percent of the world’s oil transports, more-than doubling the previous record set during the Suez crisis of 1956. But the war and its energy market impacts represent much more than just economic chaos – they are also the harbingers of serious and lasting human and environmental…

The world’s top crude oil and LNG importer, China, is not as exposed and vulnerable to energy deliveries from the Middle East as one might think. China has been amassing crude volumes in storage for months, it has been working for years to diversify oil and gas supply sources and routes, and has boosted the share of transport electrification, which has reduced demand for road transportation fuels. As the Middle East crisis choked off supplies via the world’s most critical oil and gas chokepoint, the Strait of Hormuz, China is more resilient…

An oil pipeline crossing the Canada-US border may be back on government agendas, as the proponent, South Bow Corp (TSX:SOBO), looks to revive the long-dead project. TC Energy (TSX:TRP) spun the oil pipeline component of its business out to South Bow in 2024 to concentrate on natural gas and power. The rationale for Keystone was a way to bring together booming US oil production, and to a lesser extent, production from the oil sands in Northern Alberta, to Gulf Coast refineries that were facing declining imports from Mexico and Venezuela. The project…

Energy shocks rarely remain confined to energy markets. They propagate through bond markets, fiscal balances and inflation expectations, says Helen Thomas As Winston Churchill once warned: “The statesman who yields to war fever must realise that once the signal is given he is no longer the master of policy, but the slave of unforeseeable and uncontrollable events.” The conflict in Iran is already affecting global markets. Oil prices have surged, bond yields are rising and traders are rapidly reassessing the outlook for inflation and…

The U.S.–Israel attacks on Iran and the Afghanistan–Pakistan conflict threaten Central Asia’s plans to establish southbound trade routes to markets in Asia and Africa. Military escalation between Afghanistan’s Taliban-led government and Pakistan threatens several emerging trade, transport, and energy corridors linking Central Asia to South Asia, the Persian Gulf, and global markets. Risks are both direct (insecurity along routes) and indirect (border closures, investor withdrawal, and partner-state reluctance). Pakistan…

Oil markets are bracing for an even bigger potential price shock with Iran on Wednesday warning that crude could surge to $200 per barrel if the war involving the U.S. and Israel continues to destabilize the Middle East’s energy corridors. Ebrahim Zolfaqari, spokesperson for Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya military command headquarters, warned the world to “get ready for oil to be $200 a barrel,” arguing that regional security has been destabilized by the ongoing bombing campaign against Iran.   The $200 oil price tag…

Intent on staying on Tehran’s good side, Armenia and Azerbaijan have both saluted the elevation of Mojtaba Khamenei to be Iran’s Supreme Leader. The congratulatory notes sent by Yerevan and Baku highlight the delicate geopolitical balance that both are trying to maintain amid the ongoing US-Israeli air campaign to cause the Islamic Republic’s collapse. Both Armenia and Azerbaijan share a frontier with Iran. Meanwhile, both are heavily invested in developing a US-backed trade corridor, known as TRIPP or the Trump Route for International…

Saudi Arabia’s oil giant Aramco is requesting from Asian buyers to nominate crude loading plans for April for both its key export port in the Gulf and the export alternative on the Red Sea, multiple sources told Reuters on Wednesday. The crisis at the Strait of Hormuz has reverberated through global markets. With the Strait effectively blocked for tanker traffic, Saudi Arabia has diverted part of its crude oil exports from the Ras Tanura export terminal in the Gulf that needs free-flowing traffic through Hormuz to the Yanbu export port on…

Iranian drones struck oil storage facilities at the Port of Salalah in Oman on Wednesday, marking the latest attack on Gulf energy infrastructure as the regional war expands into a full-scale confrontation over global oil supply. Fuel storage tanks at the port were hit in the strike, according to maritime security firm Ambrey and Omani state media, though no merchant vessels in the area were damaged.OSINT account Visioner shared video footage of the oil storage facilities after the attack: ????????????BREAKING | A few minutes ago, Iranian drones…

Iranian drones struck oil storage facilities at the Port of Salalah in Oman on Wednesday, marking the latest attack on Gulf energy infrastructure as the regional war expands into a full-scale confrontation over global oil supply. Fuel storage tanks at the port were hit in the strike, according to maritime security firm Ambrey and Omani state media, though no merchant vessels in the area were damaged.OSINT account Visioner shared video footage of the oil storage facilities after the attack: ????????????BREAKING | A few minutes ago, Iranian drones…

The International Energy Agency (IEA) and its member nations have agreed to release a record 400 million barrels of oil from strategic reserves in an attempt to stabilize global energy markets as the war involving Iran continues to disrupt crude flows through the Strait of Hormuz. The coordinated action, announced Wednesday by the IEA, represents the largest emergency oil release ever organized by the group and only the sixth such intervention since the IEA was created following the 1970s oil shocks. The move comes as tanker traffic through the…

The International Energy Agency (IEA) and its member nations have agreed to release a record 400 million barrels of oil from strategic reserves in an attempt to stabilize global energy markets as the war involving Iran continues to disrupt crude flows through the Strait of Hormuz. The coordinated action, announced Wednesday by the IEA, represents the largest emergency oil release ever organized by the group and only the sixth such intervention since the IEA was created following the 1970s oil shocks. The move comes as tanker traffic through the…

Crude oil inventories in the United States increased by 3.8 million barrels during the week ending March 6, according to new data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released on Wednesday. The increase brings commercial stockpiles to 443.1 million barrels according to government data, which is still 2% below 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 fell by 1.7 million barrels in the period. Crude…

Driving past the gleaming skyscrapers of downtown Tel Aviv, a huge video billboard catches the eye as the advertisement switches from groceries to a giant portrait of the US president with the caption: "Thank you, God and Donald Trump!" The tribute bears witness to Israeli gratitude for America's role in the military strikes on Iran. Israeli officials have repeatedly stressed that the two countries are in lockstep. "The cooperation is historic between the US military and the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) and between the Israeli Air Force and the…

The European Union is considering emergency relief measures in the wake of the energy price spike amid the Middle East war, including capping the price of natural gas, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday. The price spike in oil and gas prices during the ten days of war have already cost the European taxpayer an additional 3 billion euros, or $3.5 billion, in fossil fuel imports, von der Leyen told the European Parliament today. “Households and companies face pressure now. So we must deliver relief now,”…

One high-powered, precise weapon has quickly and permanently transformed modern warfare. It can weigh less than a suitcase…and cost a few hundred dollars to build…but take out a multimillion-dollar tank from miles away. The drone has changed the face of war. Nothing has disrupted the battlefield so drastically since the introduction of the machine gun in World War I. Military experts describe the shift as transformative…a fundamental rewiring of how conflicts are fought, won, and lost. Ukraine produced 1.2 million drones in…

QatarEnergy’s shutdown of its LNG production complex has resulted in a streak of five days with zero shipments of the superchilled fuel, according to Kpler data cited by Bloomberg. This is the longest period with no Qatari LNG leaving the country since 2008, the publication noted, adding no LNG carrier has passed the Strait of Hormuz since February 28. That includes vessels normally exporting liquefied gas from the UAE, meaning 20% of the world’s LNG exports are gone. QatarEnergy — the state-owned energy giant responsible for…

Oil prices pulled back sharply for the second day running on Tuesday after U.S. President Trump signaled that the Middle East war is nearing a conclusion, easing fears of prolonged supply disruption, especially at the Strait of Hormuz–even if Iran doesn’t seem to agree and statements coming out of the White House are infused with contradictions. The potential de-escalation effectively reduces the "geopolitical risk premium" that had previously driven prices towards $120 a barrel. Brent crude for April delivery dropped over 10% on Tuesday…

Earlier this year, U.S. forces snatched Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro from Caracas, and the Trump administration stepped in to take over the country’s oil industry. Many appear to have expected the same with Iran, sooner or later, but for now, it seems President Trump is in no hurry to plan an oil seizure—likely because Iran is a very different story from Venezuela. “You look at Venezuela,” the U.S. president told NBC News. “People have thought about it, but it’s too soon to talk about that.” The rather…

Saudi Arabia was regarded for decades as the ‘global swing oil producer’, able to quickly decrease or increase its oil flows to respectively raise or lower world oil prices. Riyadh has long perpetuated this idea, with grandiose claims about the Kingdom’s crude oil reserves and resultant spare capacity. After two of its key oil installations were hit by rockets from the Iran-backed Houthis back in 2019, it also highlighted that its capacity to recover from such shocks was also extremely quick. So, with the world facing continued…