Asia is expected to welcome roughly the same volumes of crude oil this month as it did in July, with these still weak imports not signaling a surge in tanker crossings at the Strait of Hormuz as the U.S. Administration claims. Asia, the biggest and most prized oil market for oil exporters, is set to import 23.12 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil this month, slightly down from 23.36 million bpd in July, per data compiled by commodity analysts Kpler and cited by Reuters columnist Clyde Russell. Sure, tankers need time to move the crude from…

Qatar and Kuwait have managed to boost their crude oil exports from the Strait of Hormuz to 70% of pre-war levels as they followed the United Arab Emirates in shuttling oil through the chokepoint and using ship-to-ship transfers in the Gulf of Oman, anonymous traders told Bloomberg on Thursday.   Before the Middle East conflict, Qatar and Kuwait collectively exported about 2 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil via the Strait of Hormuz. They don’t have alternative routes as Saudi Arabia and the UAE do, and struggled to ship oil…

Thailand plans to accelerate the rollout of renewable energy sources and embrace nuclear power for the first time to cut reliance on imported LNG in the wake of the Middle East crisis, Energy Minister Akanat Promphan told Bloomberg in an interview published on Thursday. Thailand relies on natural gas for more than 60% of its electricity generation and has become increasingly dependent on imported LNG. Following the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the Southeast Asian country is now looking to bolster its energy security and become less dependent…

Alberta’s Premier Danielle Smith has rejected the idea of slapping export taxes on crude oil exports to the United States in retaliation for the Trump administration’s tariff salvo against Ottawa, saying they would be damaging to Canada. “Although I understand the need to respond strongly to these tariffs, I cannot think of a more disastrous policy decision than cutting off or taxing Alberta’s oil to the United States,” Smith said as quoted by Global News, adding that the move would trigger a disproportionate tariff…

Crude oil prices extended their decline for the fourth day today on news that Qatar’s Prime Minister will visit Tehran today to discuss the possibility of reopening the Strait of Hormuz. At the time of writing, Brent crude was trading at $87.46 per barrel, with West Texas Intermediate at $81.83 per barrel, despite a new report about a strike on a tanker in Hormuz. No details about the visit by Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani to Tehran were made public besides a statement from Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei…

Yet another tanker has been struck by a projectile in the Strait of Hormuz, the UK Maritime Trade Operations said today, as quoted by DPA. The report follows earlier attacks that continue despite efforts on the part of Pakistan and other interested parties in the region to bring Iran and the United States to the negotiating table and end the shipping disruption in the chokepoint. So far, there is little evidence these efforts are producing any results, yet oil traders appear to be unshakeably optimistic, despite the reports about tanker strikes…

Almost half of the world’s oil supply is produced in regions currently engaged in hot conflicts, Reuters reported this week. The situation raises questions about long-term oil supply security and the limits to diversification. The Middle East, of course, is the most obvious and most disruptive example. While oil prices on speculative markets have remained capped by trader optimism, the physical supply of the vital energy commodity has been severely compromised, leading to rationing and emergency releases from storage across the world. Meanwhile,…

Ammonia production consumes as much as 2% of the world's energy and generates roughly 1.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions, largely because the industry still relies on a century-old process powered by fossil fuels. Roughly 80% of the 200 million metric tons of ammonia produced globally every year goes into nitrogen fertilizers, with the rest used in plastics, textiles, explosives and other industrial chemicals. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have now developed a new method that uses AI and quantum-mechanical…