Natural gas prices in Asia and Europe jumped on Friday as the market digested reports that Qatar has extended the force majeure on its LNG deliveries into November amid still blocked transits through the Strait of Hormuz. In Asia, the spot LNG price jumped to $23.388 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) on Friday, traders told Bloomberg. The spot LNG price has been hovering at four-year high levels this week, as supply has tightened with the absence of Qatari term deliveries since the Iran war began. In addition, utilities in Asia have been…

Oil holds near $90 despite sweeping Iran sanctions as uncertainty over Hormuz transits keeps markets on edge. Friday, August 28, 2026 The US announcement of ‘toughest sanctions in history’ against Iran did relatively little to push oil prices away from their comfort zone around $90 per barrel (for ICE Brent), with Qatari and Pakistani mediation so far failing to bring the warring sides closer. After President Trump rejected the extension of the June MoU in any form, the on-and-off nature of Hormuz transits will be the main driver of…

Ukraine’s forces struck the Slavneft-YANOS oil refinery in Yaroslavl, Russia, early on Friday, with drones causing a fire at the facility, the Ukrainian General Staff said, as Ukraine continues to pound Russia’s refining infrastructure in a bid to worsen the Russian domestic fuel crisis. The Slavneft-YANOS refinery is one of Russia’s largest oil-refining enterprises and part of PJSC Slavneft. The facility has the capacity to process about 15 million tons of oil per year, or around 300,000 barrels per day (bpd). The refinery produces…

Qatar’s state-owned QatarEnergy has extended by several weeks its force majeure on LNG deliveries to customers as the LNG flows at the Strait of Hormuz remained blocked despite increased oil flows. QatarEnergy has notified buyers in Pakistan and Bangladesh this week that LNG cargo cancellations would continue through October, traders with knowledge of the situation told Bloomberg on Friday. Some previously planned deliveries to Europe under long-term deals have also been cancelled beyond September, with Edison of Italy saying the force majeure…

WTI crude oil futures were trading at $83.51 late Thursday, down $3.13, or 3.61%, for the week. The market opened near the weekly high at $86.57, then broke to $79.62 as traders sold on reports that Iran, Oman and the United States were moving toward a workable shipping arrangement through the Strait of Hormuz. Thursday changed the tone. WTI bounced after Iran fired on a vessel near Oman and President Trump rejected terms tied to reviving the June Iran ceasefire agreement. The market stopped trading a Hormuz reopening and started trading the fact…

The war with Iran has handed Russia a strategic advantage in Ukraine. Washington is burning through the weapons Europe needs to deter Russia, moving military capacity into the Gulf and simultaneously telling NATO governments to take over more of their own defense.  CIA Director John Ratcliffe flew to Moscow this week precisely because of the connected nature of these two problems. He met Russian foreign intelligence chief Sergei Naryshkin in the first known visit by a CIA director since William Burns traveled there in late 2021, just before…

Politics, Geopolitics & Conflict Hormuz is “open”, but nowhere close to functioning normally. The U.S. has cleared mines from the internationally recognized shipping lanes and can technically get vessels through, but Iran’s military capability will still keep most commercial operators away. Only five commodity vessels crossed on Tuesday, compared to some 130 ships a day before the war. Iran is offering a temporary and limited corridor while making full normalization conditional on sanctions relief, an end to the U.S. blockade…

Pakistan’s five oil refineries are expected to sign agreements in early September for upgrades that are expected to unlock as much as $6 billion in investment in the country’s refining sector. Representatives of the five refineries, Pak Arab Refinery Limited (PARCO), Pakistan Refinery Limited (PRL), National Refinery Limited (NRL), Cnergyico, and Attock Refinery Limited (ARL), have met with Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Petroleum, Ali Pervaiz Malik, to discuss the so-called Refinery Upgradation Policy, local daily Business Recorder…

India is comfortably on track to meet its goal to have 500 gigawatts (GW) of non-fossil-fuel power capacity installed by 2030, after having just hit the 300 GW milestone, New and Renewable Energy Minister Pralhad Joshi said at an industry event.   Early this month, India announced it had topped 300 GW of non-fossil fuel-based installed electricity generation capacity as of July 31, 2026. This is 60% of the 500 GW capacity targeted to be achieved by 2030.  Solar power led the capacity installations, with a total of 164.59 GW as of the…