Iran is drafting next year’s budget under the premise that oil revenue could fall to zero, with senior budget official Mohammad Ghasemi telling the government on Monday to prepare for that scenario, as the country appears to be weeks away from that eventuality. Iran has loaded no crude since August 25, according to the US Treasury, and the oil it held at sea outside the US blockade fell from 88.8 million barrels in mid-July to zero by mid-October. Chinese buyers pay one to two months after delivery, so Kpler expects that revenue could stop…

Yesterday the US Senate approved a preliminary version of a bill, the Bipartisan Affordability and Jobs Act, commonly referred to as BAAJA. We previously published an article in Oilprice titled, “The AI Power Grab That Could Upend America’s Utility Industry.” Our thesis was simple. Today’s AI giants (we referred to them as T-Rexes because economically they are akin to apex predators), thanks to their enormous size and political influence, will be permitted to build whatever electric power generating facilities they choose,…

President Donald Trump extended the Jones Act waiver for another 90 days on Friday, keeping foreign-flagged tankers eligible to move oil and other commodities between U.S. ports as the war with Iran continues to drive up fuel costs. The extension, confirmed by a White House official who spoke to Reuters, continues what is already the longest waiver in the shipping law's history. Foreign vessels will still need approval for individual voyages due to a restriction introduced in August after earlier blanket exemptions drew opposition from the domestic…

China is responding to a successful US push to raise its trade profile in Central Asia by launching a far-reaching information campaign to sway hearts and minds in Central Asia’s most populous state.  In late October and early November, CGTN, China’s international broadcaster operated by the Communist Party’s Central Propaganda Department, sponsored an unprecedented information campaign touting the PRC’s expansive ties with Uzbekistan. The PR blitz included roughly 70 articles and videos published in the Uzbek and Russian…

The total number of active drilling rigs for oil and gas in the United States fell this week, according to new data that Baker Hughes published on Friday, with the total rig count in the US falling to 601, up 52 from this same time last year. The number of active oil rigs stayed the same at 463 during the latest reporting period, according to the data. This is 46 above this same time last year. The number of gas rigs fell by 4, which is just 2 more than this time last year. Miscellaneous rigs rose by 1 to 11. The latest EIA data showed that weekly…

Iraq’s crude oil production hit 4.6 million barrels per day (bpd) in October, the highest since 2019, data from the International Energy Agency’s monthly report showed on Friday, as OPEC’s second-largest producer hiked output by 540,000 bpd from September. Kuwait and Saudi Arabia also boosted their October crude oil output compared to September, as rising volumes of oil are leaving the Strait of Hormuz on smaller tankers, which then transfer the crude cargoes onto supertankers in the Gulf of Oman. Iraq’s October crude oil…

Oil prices bounced back in early trading on Friday as geopolitical risk returns and optimism surrounding potential peace deals fades. Friday, November 6, 2026The initial days of the US’ post-midterms price collapse are gradually making way for a return to the pre-November status quo, with President Trump insinuating that he ‘doesn’t need a deal with Iran’ amidst intensifying Israeli pressure to resume military strikes against Tehran. A worsening outlook for any peaceful settlement of the Russia-Ukraine war, as well…

India’s fuel demand for road transportation is nearly a decade away from peaking despite rising sales of electric two- and three-wheelers, as commercial transport and conventional fleets will keep using greater volumes of gasoline and diesel, BloombergNEF has said. India’s fuel demand for road transportation is expected to peak at above 2.5 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2034, research firm BloombergNEF said in its India Electric Vehicle Outlook 2026. India’s rising road fuel demand could sustain global oil demand growth for…

India’s fuel demand for road transportation is nearly a decade away from peaking despite rising sales of electric two- and three-wheelers, as commercial transport and conventional fleets will keep using greater volumes of gasoline and diesel, BloombergNEF has said. India’s fuel demand for road transportation is expected to peak at above 2.5 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2034, research firm BloombergNEF said in its India Electric Vehicle Outlook 2026. India’s rising road fuel demand could sustain global oil demand growth for…

A power plant built at the landfall of the Nord Stream gas pipelines in northeastern Germany was shut down after the pipelines were sabotaged. Now the facility is being dismantled and sent to Ukraine. The Greifswald industrial power plant in Lubmin is majority owned by Germany’s Securing Energy for Europe (SEFE). Adrianne Montgobert, a spokesperson for the state-owned company, confirmed to RFE/RL that dismantling of the plant is currently under way, with its transfer being managed by a team from Naftogaz, Ukraine’s oil and gas giant.…

Six months ago, I wrote that Americans were experiencing the Iran war primarily through higher prices, while much of the rest of the world was confronting something more serious: actual shortages of fuel and other critical products.  In “The U.S. Feels Higher Prices While The World Is Facing Fuel Shortages,” I highlighted several pressure points created by the disruption of traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. India was struggling to secure liquefied petroleum gas, or LPG, fertilizer markets were tightening, Europe faced potential…

State-owned Pakistan LNG Limited (PLL) has issued a tender to purchase two LNG cargoes from international suppliers for delivery in mid-December and early January, Business Recorder reports, citing a tender notice. Winning bidders in the tender are expected to deliver the LNG cargoes on a delivered ex-ship (DES) basis at Port Qasim, one in the December 14-16 window, and the other between January 9 and 11, 2027. The new tender is a re-issue of a previous one, in which Pakistan had rejected bids from two suppliers, who had quoted prices of between…

State-owned Pakistan LNG Limited (PLL) has issued a tender to purchase two LNG cargoes from international suppliers for delivery in mid-December and early January, Business Recorder reports, citing a tender notice. Winning bidders in the tender are expected to deliver the LNG cargoes on a delivered ex-ship (DES) basis at Port Qasim, one in the December 14-16 window, and the other between January 9 and 11, 2027. The new tender is a re-issue of a previous one, in which Pakistan had rejected bids from two suppliers, who had quoted prices of between…

A tanker carrying liquefied gas hit a mine and suffered an explosion on Friday while attempting to transit the Strait of Hormuz via a route not authorized by Iran, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy said. The vessel was using an “unauthorised and dangerous route” in the Strait of Hormuz, according to Iran’s state media cited by Reuters. The attacks on vessels carrying energy products through the Strait of Hormuz have intensified in the past month, with Iran reporting incidents nearly every day.   On Thursday,…

Politics, Geopolitics & Conflict A car bomb killed the chief navigator of Russia’s St. Petersburg-based 6th Guards Air and Air Defence Forces Army on Thursday morning, a day after Ukrainian drones set an oil terminal at Ust-Luga on fire and forced flight restrictions at St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo airport. The colonel’s car exploded about 300 meters from his apartment in Shushary, the same suburb where a car bomb killed a helicopter regiment officer in August. Investigators believe a 31-year-old local planted the device overnight…

Don’t look to falling oil prices to stave off inflation now. Brent is down from above $100 to the low $90s; Saudi Arabia pumped 10.56 million barrels a day in October, back at pre-war levels and above its quota, and gasoline just posted its steepest one-day drop in 18 years. Consumer prices still rose an estimated 4% from a year earlier in October, with pump prices slightly lower, up from 3.7% in September, and core prices rose 0.3% in a single month. Expect the Fed to hike in December, but markets have already priced this in. October’s…

December WTI crude oil futures are lower for the week, but the market has recovered a good portion of its early loss. The contract opened at $90.83, broke to $83.88, then rallied back to $88.20. At that price, WTI is down $2.63 for the week, or 2.90%. Traders took war premium out of crude after President Trump played down the possibility of new U.S. strikes on Iran. Higher Saudi production and a large build in U.S. inventories gave sellers more to work with. But attacks on Saudi energy infrastructure and continued threats to shipping brought buyers…

Asia’s refiners are back to buying Middle Eastern oil as flows through the Strait of Hormuz rise, freight rates ease from record highs, and Gulf producers are offering their crude at discounts to regional benchmarks. Chinese, Japanese, and Thai oil refiners are increasingly preferring cargoes from the Middle East in recent weeks, even those that need to transit the Strait of Hormuz, traders with knowledge of the matter told Bloomberg on Friday.   Refiners in the world’s top crude oil-importing region are buying greater volumes…

Asia’s refiners are back to buying Middle Eastern oil as flows through the Strait of Hormuz rise, freight rates ease from record highs, and Gulf producers are offering their crude at discounts to regional benchmarks. Chinese, Japanese, and Thai oil refiners are increasingly preferring cargoes from the Middle East in recent weeks, even those that need to transit the Strait of Hormuz, traders with knowledge of the matter told Bloomberg on Friday.   Refiners in the world’s top crude oil-importing region are buying greater volumes…

India is looking for private investors to build and operate the nation’s largest strategic petroleum reserve site, which will boost India’s SPR capacity by 80% and cost an estimated $910 million, local media reported on Friday, citing tender documents.   The proposed SPR site will be located at Chandikhol in the eastern Indian state of Odisha on the Bay of Bengal, and will be capable of holding up to 4 million tons of crude oil. The Indian government is offering a grant of $546 million (51.4 billion Indian rupees) to support private…