Venezuela helped create OPEC. More than six decades later, it is considering walking away, and Washington appears perfectly happy to hold open the door. Caracas is weighing whether to leave the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, Bloomberg reported Friday, citing people familiar with discussions that have included U.S. officials. No final decision has been made. Venezuela produced about 1.117 million barrels per day (bpd) in July according to OPEC’s secondary sources, and is currently exempt from OPEC production quotas after…

Kazakhstan is trying to keep the Kremlin at arm’s length amid Russian efforts to lean on Central Asian states for help in bolstering Moscow’s staggering war economy. Ukraine’s ongoing drone campaign has inflicted severe damage on Russia’s energy infrastructure and its military-industrial complex, prompting Russian officials to seek emergency energy supplies and refining arrangements from Central Asian states, while exploring offshoring options for arms production. …

More Gulf oil is moving again. Getting it out now costs a fortune. Earnings on the benchmark Saudi Arabia-to-China supertanker route surged to a record $647,000 per day on Thursday, according to Baltic Exchange data cited by Bloomberg. That is more than ten times the rate a year ago—and nearly 27% above the $510,000 reached just ten days earlier. The spike comes as Persian Gulf producers increase crude shipments through the Strait of Hormuz despite the continuing Iran war. That should, in theory, ease the oil supply crunch. Instead, it has…

The total number of active drilling rigs for oil and gas in the United States stayed the same this week, according to new data that Baker Hughes published on Friday, with the total rig count in the US staying at 588, up 52 from this same time last year. The number of active oil rigs fell by 5, sinking to 447 during the latest reporting period, according to the data. This is 35 above this same time last year. The number of gas rigs rose by 5 to 132, which is 13 more than this time last year. Miscellaneous rigs stayed the same at 9. The latest EIA…

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…