Hormuz Tanker Crossings Sink to Lowest Level Since May as War Risk Spikes

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company ADNOC has issued its seventh tender offering crude from the United Arab Emirates since the beginning of June, expecting to sell millions of barrels of oil between August and October, both from within and outside the Persian Gulf. Despite the renewed threats to supply from the Strait of Hormuz and the new threats to shipping in the Red Sea by the Iran-aligned Houthis in Yemen, ADNOC is inviting interested buyers to bid by the middle of next week for crude loading...

At least one oil tanker carrying Saudi crude oil has transited the Bab al-Mandeb Strait with its transponder switched off as risks to vessels in the Red Sea spiked this week after the Houthis announced a blockade on Saudi shipments and targeted vessels offshore Yemen. The Merbabu tanker, owned by a Greek company and laden with Saudi crude oil, transited the Bab al-Mandeb Strait in the so-called dark mode, which many shippers and tanker operators used for months to move undetected to hostile...

Chinese refiners have bought up all crude oil cargoes set to load from Russia’s Far East port of Kozmino in August weeks earlier than usual, traders with knowledge of the market told Bloomberg on Friday, as risks to Middle Eastern supply spiked this week with attacks on tankers in the Red Sea. China has been snapping up the cargoes at a faster pace, which raised the price of the Russian Far Eastern crude blend ESPO to a discount of just $1 per barrel to the price of ICE Brent, up from a...

Some of the world’s biggest heavyweights in liquefied natural gas exports are interested in adding Cambodia to their client list as the Southeast Asian nation build sits first LNG-fueled power station. The United States, Australia, Canada, and some Southeast Asian countries are among those interested in supplying fuel for the new power plant, Cambodia’s energy minister, Keo Rottanak, told Bloomberg in an interview. Cambodia gets 63% of its electricity from renewable sources, according to...

Crude oil prices were on course for a sizable weekly gain today, as the Strait of Hormuz remains almost entirely paralysed and the Yemeni Houthis target tankers in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait in the Red Sea. To make matters worse, Kazakhstan has suspended oil flows via the Caspian Pipeline Consortium system following Ukrainian drone attacks. At the time of writing, Brent crude was trading at $100.30 per barrel, with West Texas Intermediate at $91.70 per barrel, both up by over $10 per barrel since...

Kazakhstan should, in theory, be one of the major beneficiaries of Russia’s growing isolation from global energy markets. Its crude is unsanctioned and European refiners need alternatives to Russian barrels. Yet instead of gaining a clear geopolitical advantage, Kazakhstan has found itself exposed to many of the same risks as its northern neighbour: attacks on export infrastructure, disruptions inside Russia and repeated operational failures at its own largest fields. The roots of that...

There is major potential to develop hybrid renewable energy projects on existing hydropower sites, according to a new report by the think tank Ember Energy. We often think of renewable energy projects as standalone operations rather than resources that can be combined to produce higher clean energy output. However, there could be great potential for hybrid projects, as energy companies look to maximise and stabilise their energy production. According to a report published this week by Ember, 25...

India expects to build domestically five small modular reactors (SMRs) by 2033, India’s Atomic Energy Minister, Jitendra Singh, has said. The five SMRs would be part of India’s push to accelerate nuclear power capacity installations over the next two decades, the minister told lawmakers in a written reply to questions as carried by local media. The Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), India’s premier nuclear research facility under the Department of Atomic Energy, is currently developing a...

Brent crude has broken back above $100 a barrel for the first time in nearly two months as escalating attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea deepen concerns that the Middle East supply crisis is spreading beyond the Strait of Hormuz. As of mid-morning Thursday, front-month Brent for September delivery was trading at $100.69 a barrel, up more than 7% on the day after touching an intraday high of $101.01. WTI was also sharply higher, with the entire Brent forward curve moving higher as...

The last EU agreement about the latest sanctions package against Russia is being presented by Brussels as another demonstration of European unity and determination to sustain economic pressure on the Kremlin. Since February 2022, sanctions have been one of the EU's principal strategic instruments, targeting Russian banking, technology, defense industries and increasingly Russia’s energy sector. However, the negotiations surrounding the latest package have now revealed that Europe continues to...

India is on track to export the highest volume of refined petroleum products in months as refining margins have jumped with the re-escalation of the Middle East conflict. India is estimated to ship as many as 1.55 million barrels per day (bpd) of light and middle distillates in July, per data by commodity analysts Kpler cited by Reuters columnist Clyde Russell. The July volumes would be nearly double the fuel export volumes of just 866,000 bpd in May, when the Strait of Hormuz crisis hit crude...

The war in the Middle East has diminished the negotiating power that key regional LNG exporters Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have enjoyed for years. Importers of LNG from Europe to Asia plan to negotiate better terms in future long-term deals and ask for lower prices and higher contract flexibility, industry executives at LNG importing companies have told Reuters. For years, Qatar and the UAE commanded significant negotiating power, tied to their reliability as LNG suppliers. The...