Oil prices rose in early Asian trade on Wednesday after yet another escalation in the Middle East, with Iran firing missiles at Kuwait and Bahrain, and the U.S. firing on and disabling an oil tanker heading toward Iran. At the time of writing, Brent front-month futures had climbed 1.09% to trade at …
In a somewhat puzzling market development, oil prices haven't spiked yet to record highs amid the worst supply disruption in history. That's because the market still hopes for a quick resolution to the Strait of Hormuz crisis (for more than three months now), global inventories have offered a supply…
Late last year, when India and Oman officially signed the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), there was no war with Iran cutting off the Strait of Hormuz, and the advanced timing of this now is turning out to be more fortuitous than initially expected. The agreement came into effect…
The Iran War and the oil and gas market disruption it has caused have prompted a massive drop in Chinese crude oil imports. These were estimated at a little over 6 million barrels daily last month, down from almost 11.40 million barrels daily in February. The twist: China is the country that can aff…
The American Petroleum Institute (API) estimated that crude oil inventories in the United States fell by 6.75 million barrels in the week ending May 29. In the week prior, US crude oil inventories fell by 2.8 million barrels. Analysts had expected a 3.6 million draw. Despite the sharp dropoff of the…
The recent summit meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin ending on 20 May raised more questions than answers for many observers, probably including Putin himself. There was the standard announcement of several deals signed to boost cooperation in matt…
India’s LNG imports are rising amid one of the most expensive Asian gas markets in years, defying the regional pattern of demand destruction that has pushed other buyers toward coal, nuclear and energy conservation. After Qatar shut down natural gas production on March 2 and the Strait of Hormuz clo…
Oil traders have spent months obsessing over tanker movements, shipping insurance costs and the fate of crude cargoes attempting to navigate the Strait of Hormuz. But now, some of that attention will be shifting to a longer-term play: a potential restructuring of American utilities themselves. Inst…
Hedge fund Elliott Investment Management, which has built up a stake in Australia’s biggest gold miner, Northern Star Resources Ltd, is calling for a strategic review of the future value creation, including a sale of the company. Elliott, which discloses that it now holds an investment of well over …
Gold steadied and clawed back earlier losses Monday, trading up 1.08% to $4,525.34 per ounce as diplomatic signals out of the Middle East offered tentative relief, even as the broader picture remained anything but settled. Spot silver also gained, rising 1.59% to $76.17/oz, tracking gold's modest re…
China has allowed some independent refiners to reduce processing rates amid mounting losses as Chinese crude and fuel stockpiles remain comfortably high despite the Middle East crisis. In the early weeks of the Iran war and the inability of Middle Eastern exporters to ship crude through the Strait o…
Russia has mulled an extraordinary measure of exporting humans to Armenia in an effort to undermine Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s chances of retaining power in the fast-approaching parliamentary elections on June 7, according to an investigative report published by the Reuters news agency. Despi…
Iran is reviewing the latest U.S. ceasefire proposal, raising hopes of a truce extension and tempering oil prices as traders weigh the risk of renewed Middle East disruptions. Ukraine’s Refinery War Gives Russian Crude an Export Passport - Ukraine is inadvertently pushing increasing amounts of Russi…
Most oil producers in the Middle East will see their crude oil production surge by double-digit percentages next year, rebounding from this year's shut-ins due to the Iran war and the closed Strait of Hormuz. OPEC's second-largest oil producer, Iraq, which was the first to slash output in the wake o…
Engineers developed a membrane that filters the components of crude oil by their molecular size, an advance that could dramatically reduce the amount of energy needed for crude oil fractionation.
Biodegradation is an important natural process during oil spill cleanup. A new study revealed that using spill treating agents does not negatively impact naturally occurring biodegradation.
The marine bacterium Alcanivorax borkumensis feeds on oil, multiplying rapidly in the wake of oil spills, and thereby accelerating the elimination of the pollution, in many cases. It does this by producing an 'organic dishwashing liquid' which it uses to attach itself to oil droplets. Researchers ha…
A new method for predicting underwater landslides may improve the resilience of offshore facilities.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) has warned that global oil markets could enter a "red zone" in July and August as rapidly depleting crude inventories coincide with the onset of peak summer fuel demand. The Northern Hemisphere is also entering its highest seasonal period for fuel consumption, w…
The Middle East crisis and the still closed Strait of Hormuz have created a “super-squeeze” in oil markets, which could lead to sharp price spikes, analysts at HSBC say. Prices have rallied in recent months not because of some “super-cycle” but because of the massive supply disruption and an actual …
