Europe is unlikely to refill its natural gas storage facilities to even 80% before winter, Equinor CEO Anders Opedal said on Wednesday, Reuters reported, raising the prospect that the continent will enter the heating season with its smallest supply buffer in years. European gas storage sites are currently about 54% full, the second-lowest level for this point in the year in 15 years and well below the five-year average, according to Equinor and Gas Infrastructure Europe data. Earlier this month, the European Union’s energy regulator ACER…

For years, policymakers in Washington have viewed Asia primarily through the lens of Taiwan, the South China Sea, and China's military rise. Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine has only reinforced that perspective, cementing Europe and East Asia as the principal arenas of geopolitical competition. But security experts in Southeast Asia increasingly argue that another crisis thousands of kilometers away in the Middle East may ultimately reshape the regional balance of power far more profoundly than either Ukraine or Taiwan. The strategic importance…

Asian refiners that had bet on a flood of crude supply from the Middle East in August are now faced with potential delays in deliveries amid the re-escalation of hostilities, which could thwart their plans to ramp up crude processing rates in the coming weeks, analysts have told Reuters. At the end of June and early July, Asian refiners were optimistic that the tentative reopening of the Strait of Hormuz following the U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding would bring steadily rising crude volumes from the Middle East. With the collapse of the ceasefire,…

Oil prices jumped by nearly 4% early on Wednesday as concerns about crude supply from the Middle East intensify with threats to shipping at both chokepoints in the region, the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. Brent Crude prices jumped by 3.75% to trade at $94.42, following reports that the Iran-aligned Houthis are ready to attempt the closure of Bab el-Mandeb, which would choke supply from the Saudi port of Yanbu on the Red Sea. The U.S. benchmark, WTI Crude, was rising by 3.69% to trade at $87.45 per barrel. Saudi Arabia has managed…

China’s demand for crude oil imports and the pace of its refined products exports will help shape the trend in oil prices through the end of the year, alongside the supply disruptions in the Middle East.   Decade-low Chinese crude oil imports have eased upward pressure on oil prices in recent months despite the worst supply disruption in the history of oil markets. China’s tumbling demand for crude oil imports was the key demand-side factor in capping the price hikes since the Iran war began.  The market is now increasingly…

When the Energy Institute reported in its Statistical Review of World Energy that the global grid is still ruled by hydrocarbons, it may have come as a surprise to some observers. Now, another report has confirmed the status quo: alternative energy sources of electricity are expanding, but the world still generates most of its electricity from coal, gas, and oil. Some 57% of global electricity is generated from hydrocarbons, Pew Research Center reported, after analyzing data produced by net-zero outlet Ember, which is also a partner of the Energy…

The artificial intelligence boom has created an era of unprecedented uncertainty in the global economy. Large language models are evolving as quickly as they are being integrated, creating a major headache for anyone trying to project their future impact or even their current energy footprint. But while we don’t know exactly how much energy will be needed to power the tech sector in coming years, we do know that it will be a whole lot, and the market is already reacting accordingly. “Energy companies are raising money at IPO at their…

Norway's crude oil production beat official forecasts in June as offshore fields returned from seasonal maintenance, delivering a stronger-than-expected increase in supply at a time when global markets remain focused on disruptions to Middle Eastern exports. According to preliminary figures released Tuesday by the Norwegian Offshore Directorate (SODIR), Norway's crude oil production averaged 1.827 million barrels per day (bpd) in June, exceeding the agency's official forecast while rising sharply from 1.677 million bpd in the same month last year.…

Following a drone attack on the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) terminal along the Black Sea Coast, Kazakhstan has newly confirmed a halt to crude transfers there. "Kazakhstan is set to stop piping crude to a port on Russia’s Black Sea coast after a spate of attacks on tankers that's jeopardizing the landlocked Asian country’s ability to produce oil," Bloomberg reports Tuesday morning. "The CPC Terminal at the Russian port of Novorossiysk will stop accepting piped supplies because tanker companies are too nervous to…

India's biggest state refiners are no longer willing to gamble on the Strait of Hormuz. Indian Oil Corp. and Mangalore Refinery & Petrochemicals have suspended crude loadings from Iraq after a string of attacks on commercial tankers turned the world's most important oil chokepoint into an increasingly expensive and dangerous place to do business. According to Bloomberg, Indian Oil abandoned plans to load the VLCC Lila Jamnagar, concluding that sending a fully laden 2-million-barrel tanker through Hormuz was no longer worth the risk. Mangalore…

It is true that U.S. foreign policy under President Donald Trump now operates from the starting point of three core geographical spheres, dominated by a major power in each, as delineated in the ‘2025 National Security Strategy’. Asia is one, with China holding the primary role there; Europe is another, dominated by either Russia or European NATO members; and the Americas (comprising North and South America) is the third, with the U.S. being the key player. However, it is also true that Washington continues to regard the Middle East…

The United States says its campaign to choke off Iran's oil revenue may finally be showing results where it matters most: China. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Tuesday that Chinese purchases of Iranian crude have fallen sharply after Washington expanded sanctions on the country's independent "teapot" refiners, which have long been the primary buyers of discounted Iranian barrels. Speaking to Fox Business, Bessent said China's crude purchases have dropped by about 40% over the past several months, putting direct financial pressure on Tehran.…

China's expanding role in Kyrgyzstan has become increasingly hard to ignore. During the first half of 2026, Kyrgyzstan issued some 61,000 work visas, according to the Foreign Ministry's Consular Department, with about 60 percent going to Chinese citizens. That influx of Chinese workers is part of a wider economic expansion. Nearly 7,000 Chinese companies, associations, and other organizations have been registered in Kyrgyzstan over the past three years, according to official statistics. Chinese firms are involved in many of the country's largest…

Houthi attacks are expanding the Middle East conflict into the Red Sea, forcing tankers to reroute and pushing Brent above $91 amid growing fears of prolonged supply disruptions. Aramco Floods the Red Sea With Crude Ahead of Houthi Escalation - Perhaps foreshadowing an escalation in the Persian Gulf, Saudi Arabia’s national oil company Saudi Aramco shipped record volumes of crude from its Red Sea port of Yanbu over the past four weeks. - Yemen’s Houthi rebels have sent an email to most global shipping companies, warning against loading…

India emerged as the world’s most active long-term LNG buyer market in 2025 with a total of 8.4 million tons per year contracted, according to the annual 2026 report of the International Group of LNG Importers, known by its French acronym GIIGNL. Last year, India added its eighth LNG import terminal as it plans to nearly double the share of natural gas in its energy mix to about 15% in a decade. India was the most active end-user buyer last year, with 8.4 MTPA in total contracts disclosed across six entities, including IndianOil (4.7 MTPA),…

Shipping disruption: Houthi threats forced two Saudi oil tankers to turn around in the Red Sea as Hormuz traffic slowed sharply after more tanker attacks. Escalation in Gulf: Iran claimed strikes on infrastructure in Bahrain, Kuwait, and Jordan, while Kuwait reported a second day of attacks on power and desalination plants. Trump vows more to come: The US launched fresh strikes on Iranian targets, Trump vowed retaliation, and Reuters reported a proposed 10-day ceasefire. Oil surges: Crude prices hit multi-week highs amid shipping…

India’s economic growth for the 2026/2027 fiscal year could be lower than previously expected amid higher oil prices with the re-escalation of the Middle East war and the El Nino weather phenomenon, a senior official at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) told Reuters. “The downside risks are probably twofold,” Ranil Salgado, the IMF’s resident representative for India and Bhutan, told Reuters in an interview published on Tuesday. “One is that the war is already starting to expand again, and that has implications…

India’s economic growth for the 2026/2027 fiscal year could be lower than previously expected amid higher oil prices with the re-escalation of the Middle East war and the El Nino weather phenomenon, a senior official at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) told Reuters. “The downside risks are probably twofold,” Ranil Salgado, the IMF’s resident representative for India and Bhutan, told Reuters in an interview published on Tuesday. “One is that the war is already starting to expand again, and that has implications…

India’s economic growth for the 2026/2027 fiscal year could be lower than previously expected amid higher oil prices with the re-escalation of the Middle East war and the El Nino weather phenomenon, a senior official at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) told Reuters. “The downside risks are probably twofold,” Ranil Salgado, the IMF’s resident representative for India and Bhutan, told Reuters in an interview published on Tuesday. “One is that the war is already starting to expand again, and that has implications…

India’s economic growth for the 2026/2027 fiscal year could be lower than previously expected amid higher oil prices with the re-escalation of the Middle East war and the El Nino weather phenomenon, a senior official at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) told Reuters. “The downside risks are probably twofold,” Ranil Salgado, the IMF’s resident representative for India and Bhutan, told Reuters in an interview published on Tuesday. “One is that the war is already starting to expand again, and that has implications…