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FGE NexantECA says the next two months pose the greatest risk of escalation between the United States and Iran, with a limited strike possible before January 3. The consultancy sees little chance of a deal and warns that renewed conflict could delay the recovery of oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz.
Asia’s high-sulfur fuel oil refining margin swung from a $5.34-per-barrel premium on Monday to a $2.29 discount on Thursday, as rising Middle Eastern supplies and hopes of reduced U.S.-Iran tensions weighed on prices, according to Reuters, citing LSEG data.
Even with crude flows through the Strait of Hormuz nearing pre-war levels, tankers remain hard to secure for Gulf cargoes. Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) Chairman Vikas Kaushal told Bloomberg that shipowners sometimes withdraw at the last minute, leaving the Indian refiner without vessels for scheduled loading dates.
Gujarat Energy Ltd will receive up to 4 million tons of liquefied natural gas over a decade under a deal with ADNOC, with deliveries scheduled to start in 2028. The agreement is the first sale from the international gas portfolio of XRG, ADNOC’s international investment company.
Gasoline accounted for less than 45% of U.S. refinery output during the first eight months of 2026, below the previous five-year low in each month, as high margins and global shortages made diesel and jet fuel more attractive to produce, U.S. Energy Information Administration data show.
China’s carbon dioxide emissions fell 3.1% in the third quarter, as crude oil consumption declined 4% and transport fuel use dropped 9%, according to the Finnish climate research group Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), as cited by Reuters.
The global oil market may have returned to a surplus, with JPMorgan estimating excess supply of 1.1 million barrels per day in September and 1.4 million in October. Analysts at Goldman Sachs also described the market as balanced in those months, as high prices curbed demand and fears of a shortfall eased.
WTI crude has averaged $86.72 a barrel so far this year, more than $20 above its 2025 average of $64.94. Yet the largest U.S. shale producers are holding to cautious spending plans, citing volatile markets and uncertainty over how long prices will stay high.
Renewable electricity saved India more than $100 billion in coal and natural gas import costs from 2011 to 2025, according to the International Energy Agency. The agency expects cumulative savings to more than double by 2030, as the country expands clean power and seeks to strengthen energy security.
Brent and U.S. crude futures were each on course to lose about 12% for the week, as optimism after the U.S. midterm elections weighed on prices despite reports of new tanker incidents in the Strait of Hormuz.
A $12 billion U.S. critical-minerals stockpile could still depend on China if its rare earths cannot be processed into usable metals and magnets. That is the central vulnerability identified in a promotional article about REalloys, which presents the company as a potential North American supplier—but also discloses the publisher’s financial interest in its shares.
QatarEnergy’s new agreements to buy U.S. liquefied natural gas will make the Qatari state-owned company the largest buyer of LNG from the United States, CEO Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi said. The deals come as the Strait of Hormuz crisis constrains Qatar’s exports and damages its standing as a reliable supplier.
Brent crude rose 4% to $98.38 a barrel by 3:15 p.m. ET on Thursday, recovering after a steep drop the previous day. The rebound followed Democrats’ sweep of the House and Senate, which investors weighed against renewed uncertainty over Iran, U.S. energy policy and demand for oil.
France’s parliament unanimously rejected the government’s proposed budget on Wednesday evening, adding to investor concern as the country faces a deficit of 5.1% of GDP and debt exceeding 115%. The crisis has prompted questions about the euro’s resilience and the limits of European support for a major member state.
Four-hour battery systems have become cheaper to build than open-cycle gas turbines for routine peak demand in Australia, according to a CSIRO assessment prepared with the Australian Energy Market Operator. The shift threatens gas peakers’ most regular source of revenue, even as gas capacity remains useful for extended periods of low renewable output.
With global oil inventories shrinking and tensions around the Strait of Hormuz raising fears of a price spike, Guyana is rapidly increasing production. The South American country was lifting 908,000 barrels a day by the end of August 2026 and expects to pass 1 million before year-end.
Democrats’ victories in both chambers of Congress have raised hopes across energy-importing Asian countries that Washington could help end the war with Iran and ease a severe fuel crisis. But President Donald Trump remains in office, and analysts warn that a change in congressional control may not quickly alter U.S. policy or energy prices.
Energy routes linking Turkmenistan to Europe and South Asia featured in US-Turkmen talks in Ashgabat, alongside plans to widen trade ties. Turkmen officials have shown interest in exporting more gas west, but a trans-Caspian pipeline would depend on resolving a maritime boundary issue with Azerbaijan.
ConocoPhillips more than doubled third-quarter profit to $4 billion as higher oil prices outweighed lower production, and raised its quarterly dividend by 11%. The Houston-based company also returned $3.4 billion to shareholders, including $2.4 billion in share repurchases.
Democrats’ takeover of both chambers of Congress has weakened President Donald Trump politically, but Iranian officials do not expect it to shift Washington’s approach to Tehran. Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said on November 4 that anyone anticipating fundamental change because power changed hands in Congress was “gravely mistaken.”
Brent crude rose 3.58% to $98.01 a barrel by early Thursday afternoon, while U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate gained 2.51% to $90.33. Both prices extended their recovery later in the session, reversing part of a steep selloff driven by hopes that U.S. election results could hasten an end to the Iran war.
Turkey plans to invest $500 billion in energy infrastructure by 2040, aiming to reduce its reliance on imported fuel and expand domestic production, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said Thursday. The plan includes a fourfold increase in wind and solar capacity and a 10-gigawatt nuclear power target.
Iran has exempted ships from India, China, Iraq and Qatar from restrictions on transit through the Strait of Hormuz, according to Ahmad Hayat-Moghaddam, vice chairman of parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee. He announced the policy Tuesday as Iranian exports face a U.S. naval blockade of the country’s ports.
The EU has no plans to restart purchases of Russian gas, diplomats told EUobserver as officials from Europe, the United States and Ukraine met in Brussels to discuss Ukraine’s post-war recovery ahead of next week’s U.S.-Ukraine-Russia negotiations in Abu Dhabi.
A total of $67.8 billion in proposed LNG-fired power plants and import terminals across the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand and Bangladesh has been scrapped or stalled since 2021, according to a report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA). The projects represent more than half of the proposals examined.
Northwest European November butane reached $1,125 a tonne by early November, its highest level in 30 years, while Asian and US benchmarks also climbed sharply. A shift in global trade flows, rising winter demand and disruptions to US shipments are tightening supply as buyers compete for cargoes.
European benchmark gas prices fell for a second day on Thursday as markets weighed whether the U.S. midterm results could encourage President Donald Trump to pursue diplomacy over escalation in the Iran war, potentially allowing liquefied natural gas shipments through the Strait of Hormuz to resume.
India will require state-owned utilities to add energy storage as it seeks to curb renewable-power waste and address limited storage capacity, Power Ministry Secretary Pankaj Agarwal said Thursday at the Bharat Renewable Energy Summit.
A naval mine and two separate fires damaged vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said Thursday. The incidents came amid more reports of attacks on ships using routes Iran says are unauthorized, while a separate tanker strike was reported off Qatar.
Sub-Saharan Africa’s liquefied natural gas exports could reach 98 billion cubic meters by 2034, nearly 175% above 2024 levels, as buyers seek supply beyond the Strait of Hormuz and new projects expand the region’s capacity, Fitch forecasts.