Pakistan is on track to procure the most LNG cargoes on the spot market since the Iran war began as the re-escalation in the Strait of Hormuz threatens to disrupt anew term supplies from Qatar. State-controlled Pakistan LNG this week issued a second tender for spot supply in as many weeks as the renewed hostilities over the past few days have disrupted Qatari shipments once again, with no LNG tankers observed to have exited the Strait of Hormuz for days. Pakistan LNG wants to buy another cargo for delivery in July, according to a tender document…

Iran continues to export its oil despite last week’s cancellation of the U.S. waiver of its oil sales, Iranian Oil Minister, Mohsen Paknejad, said on Tuesday, as Tehran remains defiant and determined to control the Strait of Hormuz amid renewed hostilities and the reinstated U.S. naval blockade. “Iran’s oil exports are continuing without interruption despite the termination of a 60-day exemption tied to US sanctions,” Shana, the news service of Iran’s Oil Ministry, quoted the oil minister as saying. Iran’s Oil…

Asian buyers are back to negotiating spot cargoes of U.S. crude oil after the expected recovery of flows through the Strait of Hormuz ground to a halt early this week with the latest re-escalation in the U.S.-Iran tensions. Asian refiners are now returning to the trade that saved their supplies in the early days of the war—purchasing massive volumes of U.S. spot cargoes. At least three unnamed executives and traders involved in the sales and procurement of U.S. oil for Asian refiners told Bloomberg on Tuesday they had re-launched talks on…

Brent Crude prices soared by 3% early on Tuesday to above $86 per barrel, following an Iranian attack on two tankers of the United Arab Emirates in the southern lane of the Strait of Hormuz, in one of the biggest attacks in the recent re-escalation in the region.    In early trading in Europe today, Brent Crude prices jumped by over 3% to above $86 per barrel, and were trading at $86.06 a barrel at 9:00 a.m. London time.   The U.S. benchmark, WTI Crude, was surging by 3.1% to top $80 per barrel for the first time in a month. The…

Oil refiners have stumbled into one of the best profit environments in years. Crude prices have fallen back to where they traded before the Iran war erupted. But gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel remain stubbornly expensive. That combination has pushed refining margins to extraordinary levels, giving refiners a windfall that few expected just weeks after the Strait of Hormuz reopened. The benchmark U.S. 3-2-1 crack spread—a closely watched measure of refining profitability—recently climbed above $60 per barrel, the highest level on record.…

While the United States has been the world’s biggest consumer of oil for decades, it became the largest oil producer, too, back in 2018, and has retained that crown ever since. The shale revolution and the growth in the Permian oil production have allowed the U.S. not only to retain the top spot ahead of Russia and Saudi Arabia, but to extend the lead over these OPEC+ allies, whose output has been restrained by the voluntary production cuts in recent years. This year, the U.S. has been expanding the gap further despite the modest growth (so…

OPEC has trimmed its 2026 global oil demand growth forecast for the third straight month, even as crude production rebounds across the Gulf and tanker traffic slowly returns to the Strait of Hormuz. In its monthly oil market report released Monday, OPEC lowered expected oil demand growth this year to 780,000 barrels per day, down another 190,000 bpd from last month's forecast. The producer group still expects stronger consumption than many other forecasters, including the International Energy Agency, and even raised its demand growth estimate for…

As might be expected in the zero-sum game of global energy, there is much more than meets the eye to the acquisition by Abu Dhabi-headquartered international investment company XRG of an additional equity interest in Trains (self-contained production facilities) 4 and 5 of the U.S.’s flagship Rio Grande liquefied natural gas (LNG) project at the Port of Brownsville, Texas. In practical terms, this gives the firm that is wholly owned by the UAE’s oil and gas giant Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) much deeper exposure to one of…

While the Trump administration keeps pushing domestic energy addition through funding vehicles and executive orders aimed at grid reliability and AI-driven demand growth, two next-generation geothermal developers just posted updates that move past announcements and into measurable progress on drilling and capital formation. Fervo announced that its third-generation well design at Cape Station in Utah has lifted drilling rates by 143% compared with the first Cape well.  The latest well, Sawtooth 7, reached 19,448 feet measured depth, including…

The CEO of America’s largest utility, EXELON, foresees blackouts in the US in 2027. To boost power supply Calvin Butler wants states to allow his utility to build new power plants. Opponents will object, saying this would saddle utility consumers with the risks. Whereas now, the builders take the risks. Meanwhile, we are scratching our heads because economists have long theorized that utilities build excess rate base in order to raise earnings. We would amend this to argue that utility managers only deploy excess capital when they can earn…

Oil prices jumped more than 8% on Monday after U.S. President Donald Trump announced the United States would reinstate its blockade on Iran, forcing traders to once again price in the risk of prolonged disruption to energy flows through the Strait of Hormuz. Brent crude climbed above $82 per barrel during afternoon trading, gaining more than 8%, while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) surged past $77 per barrel.  Monday’s surge wiped out most of the losses that followed last month’s ceasefire, pushing Brent back above $82 and West…

Oil prices jumped more than 8% on Monday after U.S. President Donald Trump announced the United States would reinstate its blockade on Iran, forcing traders to once again price in the risk of prolonged disruption to energy flows through the Strait of Hormuz. Brent crude climbed above $82 per barrel during afternoon trading, gaining more than 8%, while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) surged past $77 per barrel.  Monday’s surge wiped out most of the losses that followed last month’s ceasefire, pushing Brent back above $82 and West…

The European Union will not impose sanctions on the head of the Russian Orthodox Church and the chief of Russia’s largest private oil company, after Bulgaria vetoed the proposal. Patriarch Kirill, a vocal supporter of President Vladimir Putin and public backer of the war on Ukraine, had been expected to be included in the latest round of financial penalties that the 27-member bloc was considering. Kirill “consistently justified and supported Russia’s aggressive war against Ukraine,” calling it “sacred,” according…

The Strait of Hormuz reopened less than a month ago, but Dubai is already planning for the next closure. DP World is reportedly in talks to build a new multipurpose port and container terminal in Fujairah on the UAE's east coast, creating another shipping route that avoids Hormuz altogether. According to the Financial Times, construction could take as little as 18 months. The company has acknowledged it is pursuing diversification projects to get through future disruptions. That timeline says plenty. Ports are built to solve problems measured in…

The clock that was ticking down to economic disaster for Iraq on 27 July has been paused, with Turkey agreeing to a one-year temporary arrangement that ensures the continuation of critical oil exports running via pipelines from northern Iraq into the Turkish port of Ceyhan. The new one-year protocol covers the entire Iraq-Turkey Pipeline (ITP) corridor – comprising two separate oil pipelines – treating it as a single, unified mechanism, in line with the original 1973 ‘Crude Oil Pipeline Agreement’. These routes were made…

The head of the International Energy Agency has warned Europe made a “major mistake” by failing to end its economy reliance on imported fossil fuels quickly enough since the 2022 energy crunch. Fatih Birol said Europe’s low electrification rate, electricity’s share of the energy consumed in the EU, of roughly 23 per cent is holding back its competitiveness and economic “sovereignty”. Speaking to the Financial Times, Birol said: “This is in my view a major mistake for Europe. “In general, I would have…

The cost of unsubsidized utility-scale solar rose by 18% to $40-$98/MWh, driven by higher capital costs, interest rates, tariffs, and supply chain pressures, a Lazard's Levelized Cost of Energy+ analysis has found. However, even with these hikes, solar remains the cheapest new-build generation technology globally, even when factoring in auxiliary firming costs due to the intermittent nature of solar energy. Levies on solar panels, batteries, and inverters, particularly affecting equipment from Asia, have directly elevated import costs. U.S. markets…

The European Union imported a record 9.97 million metric tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG)  worth €5.96 billion (~$6.82 billion) from Russia's Yamal LNG facility in the first half of 2026, marking a 16% increase compared to the same period in 2025 as they front-loaded Russian energy supplies ahead of impending phase-out bans. Kpler data shows that European buyers absorbed over 97% of the Siberian facility's total output during the first half of the year, despite years-long efforts to overcome dependency on Russian energy. Overall EU…

The oil market has officially entered its mixed-signals era. Crude prices had erased most of their wartime gains as barrels returned to the market and fears of oversupply resurfaced. But renewed U.S.-Iran hostilities have sent prices climbing again, underscoring just how quickly geopolitical risk can return to the market. Gasoline and diesel are telling a completely different story. According to the International Energy Agency's latest monthly report, refining margins surged to four-year highs in early July as product markets tightened even while…

The oil market has officially entered its mixed-signals era. Crude prices had erased most of their wartime gains as barrels returned to the market and fears of oversupply resurfaced. But renewed U.S.-Iran hostilities have sent prices climbing again, underscoring just how quickly geopolitical risk can return to the market. Gasoline and diesel are telling a completely different story. According to the International Energy Agency's latest monthly report, refining margins surged to four-year highs in early July as product markets tightened even while…