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…

Oil volumes moving out of the Persian Gulf have recovered to about two-thirds of the typical levels from before the Iran war, Goldman Sachs says, noting that the jump in exports could cap oil prices even if the Middle East conflict drags on further. As many as 15 million to 16 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude and petroleum products are now leaving the whole Middle East region, about 5 to 6 million bpd above the March trough, Goldman Sachs analysts said in a note carried by Bloomberg. The total Middle Eastern volumes are still about 7-8 million…

Three of China’s top solar market players reported deepening losses over the first half of the year, reflecting weakening demand for solar in the world’s top manufacturer and generator. Jinko Solar, JA Solar Technology, and Tongwei all reported six-month losses as overcapacity in the sector meets weakening demand, not only at home but also abroad, Bloomberg reported, citing statements made by the companies at their financial results releases. The report noted new solar power capacity additions in China had shrunk to 72.07 GW over the…

Tanker traffic in the Strait of Hormuz slowed below the ten-day average this week, with only seven commodity vessels traversing the waterway on Thursday, Reuters reported today, citing preliminary data from Kpler. This compared to 17 vessels passing through Hormuz a day earlier, with the ten-day average at 15, based on ship-tracking data. A total of 17 tankers passed through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, 11 of them exiting and six entering, per Reuters. Windward, meanwhile, reported a total of six tankers passed through the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday,…

Crude oil prices were on course to book another weekly loss despite no sign of any progress being made towards peace between Iran and the United States. At the time of writing, Brent crude was trading at $89.17 per barrel, with West Texas Intermediate at $83.19 per barrel. Brent was down by 5.3% over the week, and WTI was set for a 4.3% decline, Reuters reported earlier today. The price trend is interesting in light of reports from vessel-tracking companies that tanker traffic in the Strait of Hormuz remains much weaker than it was before the war.…

Egypt’s gas sector is running short of domestic gas just as Cyprus prepares to become a producer. The recently approved Cronos project offshore Cyprus (expected to deliver up to 2.8 million tonnes per year of LNG from 2028) offers a three-way bargain. Cyprus gains an export route it cannot economically build alone; Egypt secures feedstock for infrastructure increasingly constrained by falling domestic production, and Europe gains another non-Russian source. The logic is compelling, but technical, commercial and geopolitical risks could still…