Middle East

The Indian Embassy in Oman reported that India had?reported a ship incident off the port of Shinas in Oman earlier Thursday. This was a day after a U.S. led attack on another vessel killed three Indian seafarers. This was the third incident of this kind in the last week. The U.S. military claimed to have attacked MT Marivex, and?Settebello. Both vessels were manned by Indian seafarers. The Indian Embassy in Oman has not specified if there were Indian seafarers aboard the vessel that was involved in the incident on Thursday. The Indian Embassy in Oman posted on social media that...

Ship-tracking data revealed that a fifth Qatari LNG tanker?transited the Strait of Hormuz carrying a cargo. This brings the total to nine?LNG vessels which have?exited this waterway with a cargo since the onset of the 'war. According to Kper and LSEG, the Al Daayen was controlled by QatarEnergy. It was spotted on ship-tracking data around June 4-5 off the coasts of Qatar. On Monday, it reappeared in ship-tracking data that showed the vessel east of the Strait and heading towards?China. According to Kper, the tanker reportedly loaded a cargo?on 1 June at Qatar's Ras Laffan Terminal. According to Vortexa, an...

The Houthis, who are aligned with Iran in Yemen, announced on Monday they would bar ships from the Red Sea that were linked to Israel after Israel re-launched its military strikes?on Iran. This has added to global concerns over shipping and energy flow. Here's why and what it means for the Iran war and global energy crisis. How big is the risk to global energy markets? Iran's closing of the Strait of Hormuz after?Israel attacked and the United States on February 28?has disrupted the majority of oil and energy exports out of the Gulf. This has caused a major energy...

Police and health officials reported that at least 21 Iraqis were killed and 19 injured when a passenger?bus crashed and caught fire?near Nassiriya, a southern?city?. Officials?stated that the accident happened after the driver lost the control of the vehicle on a highway near Nassiriya. The vehicle then flipped over and erupted in flames. His office reported that Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi had ordered an investigation to determine the cause of the crash. He also instructed authorities to submit a report detailing the circumstances of the accident. Officials from the police and medical services confirmed that 21 people died at...

The stock markets of 'the United Arab Emirates' closed higher on Friday. Dubai outperformed its regional peers despite the fading hopes of a diplomatic breakthrough between Israel and the U.S. Hezbollah, a militia backed by Iran, rejected a ceasefire on Thursday in?Lebanon and Israel announced it?wouldn't withdraw troops from the?country?undermining U.S. president Donald Trump's attempts to halt fighting?and achieve a peace?deal? with Tehran. Dubai's main index of shares rose by 0.9%, boosted by gains in the industrial and utilities sectors. Salik Company, a toll operator, increased by 1.6% while Emirates Central Cooling Systems grew 2.5%. Abu Dhabi's benchmark indices settled...

The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command announced on Friday that U.S. forces had seized the stateless sanctioned oil tanker Davina in the Indian Ocean overnight. Washington has placed a sea blockade against Iran, while Tehran has fired at ships to stop them from?sailing? through the Strait of Hormuz and entering the Middle East Gulf. In recent months, U.S. forces intercepted "multiple commercial and petroleum tankers" in the Indian Ocean. Indo-Pacific Command posted on X that "we will continue to enforce global maritime law to?disrupt illegal networks and 'interdict vessels providing materials support to Iran wherever they operate". According to data from ship...

Western governments should accelerate the scrapping of unregulated vessels that have been sanctioned and give their operators time to dispose of them, as environmental risks are increasing daily. In recent years, the?use of so-called'shadow?fleets?or dark fleets of tankers has increased. Hundreds of tankers are transporting Iranian and Russian oil without any safety or insurance checks. Evangelos Marinakis is the founder and chairman at Greece's Capital Maritime & Trading Corp., a major ship owner with more than 285 vessels on order. He has been pushing to remove unregulated tankers in global trading. Marinakis said during the Posidonia Shipping Week in Athens...

The major Gulf stock exchanges rose slightly on Thursday in the early trading after Israel and Lebanon agreed to implement ceasefire. This boosted optimism for a larger deal to end the U.S. War with Iran, even though tensions were simmering. A joint statement issued by the U.S. State Department following talks in Washington said that the Israel-Lebanon truce is conditional on the complete cessation from fire of the Iran-aligned Hezbollah and the evacuation?of all their operatives?from the South Litani Sector. Donald Trump, the U.S. president, suggested Wednesday that progress could be made in negotiations with Iran by this weekend. Iran...

The price of Asia's naphtha fell to its lowest level since early March, as the Abu Dhabi Oil Company (ADNOC), resumed exports via the Omani port in Sohar. This could provide an alternative supply route, which would ease the supply shortage caused by the U.S./Israeli war against Iran. ADNOC stopped exports of around 1 million metric tonnes per month of petrochemical feedstock to its Ruwais Refinery in April, after the war curtailed shipping via the Strait?Hormuz. Last month, the United Arab Emirates producer resumed its exports by using tankers to transport cargoes to the?refinery within the Gulf and then transferring...

Salam Studio & Stores, a distributor based in Qatar, had gone weeks without receiving its Red 'Bull shipments. This prompted it to try a 'little-used route. In the fourth month of conflict, and despite the effective closure of 'the Strait of Hormuz', its products were scattered across India and Sri Lanka ports, and Gulf hubs that it usually relies on were hit by Iranian fire, and faced capacity constraints. Salam, fearful of losing market shares, chose an untested option: shipping cargo via the Port of NEOM in Saudi Arabia, a Red Sea facility that is now promoting itself as a...

The price of Asia's naphtha has fallen to its lowest level since early March, as Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC), resumed exports via the Omani Port of Sohar in May, according to traders. This could provide an alternative supply route, which would ease the supply crisis caused by the U.S. and Israeli war against Iran. ADNOC stopped exports of petrochemical feedstock of around 1 million metric tonnes per month from its Ruwais Refinery in April, after the war curtailed shipping via the Strait of Hormuz. Last month, the United Arab Emirates producer resumed exports by using tankers to transport...

MSC, the world's largest shipping company, announced on Tuesday that its Sariska V vessel was struck by two projectiles in Iraq's Umm Qasr Port on Monday. All crew members were uninjured and safe. The company claimed that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard had taken responsibility. MSC said the incident was an unprovoked attack against a neutral commercial airline?with no affiliation with the United States or Israel. In a press release, the group stated that it was "deeply concerned" by the unprovoked attacks. It also expressed concern about the danger they pose to innocent seafarers in the region and maritime trade. Iran's...

United States is now the largest oil exporter in the world, upending decades-old orders long dominated Saudi Arabia and Russia. This?shift tightens American firms' grip on global energy markets, as Washington's War with Iran reshapes international energy trade. The United States' rise to the top of the oil exporters list is a dramatic reversal. For decades, America was reliant on Middle Eastern oil and had to endure an oil embargo imposed in 1973 by some OPEC countries as a retaliation for U.S. support for?Israel. After 2010, the U.S. fortunes changed when the oil and gas production from its shale deposits...

A senior executive of the Abu Dhabi state oil firm said that August could be a 'tipping point' for higher oil prices, if the demand increases and a supply crisis persists due to the Iran War. According to Philippe Khoury of ADNOC, executive vice president of sales and trading at the Middle East Petroleum and Gas Conference, London, transit through the Strait of Hormuz is likely to remain limited and below the pre-war level as long as peace uncertainty persists. Khoury added that it would take months to fully restore the supply chain, while others may only require a few...

Calculations showed that the average daily natural gas supply to Europe via the TurkStream pipeline by Russian energy giant Gazprom rose 3% from a year earlier to a total of '47.4 millions cubic metres in may, according to calculations released on Monday. The only remaining transit route for Russian gas into Europe is through Turkey after Ukraine decided not to extend the five-year agreement with Moscow that expired in January 2025. According to calculations based on data from the European Gas Transmission Group Entsog, total Russian gas supplies via TurkStream reached a record?1.47 billion cu ft last month. This is...

SOCAR, TotalEnergies and ADNOC International have signed a gas purchase & sales agreement for?gas produced in Azerbaijan from the Absheron field. On the sidelines Baku Energy Week, SOCAR President Rovshan 'Najaf was joined by BOTAS Chairman Abdulvahit 'Fidan, TotalEnergies Senior Vice President for Exploration and?Production Europe Martino Panizzi and Mohammed Al Aryani President - International Gas of XRG. The final investment decision for the Absheron II project will be made this year. In 2029, annual gas production will begin and reach a level of over 4 billion cubic meters (bcm). A SOCAR official stated that around half of the production...

Alparslan bayraktar, Turkish Energy Minister said that Turkey and Azerbaijan will expand their energy partnership beyond oil and gas to include electricity transmission and green energy corridors. Bayraktar, speaking at the Baku Energy?Week opening, said that Turkey, Azerbaijan and Georgia,?Bulgaria, and Southeast European countries are working?to enhance regional energy connectivity. Bayraktar stated that "we are going to create a 'electricity version' of TANAP", referring to the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline, which carries Azerbaijani natural gas to Europe via Turkey. The Turkish government plans to upgrade its transmission and distribution network by $30 billion over the next decade in order to...

The Swiss government announced on Friday that it had expanded its sanctions against Russia and Belarus, adopting portions of the latest package of measures from the European Union in response to Moscow's conflict in Ukraine. The Federal Department of Economic Affairs (FDEA)?said that the new listings will take effect at 11 p.m. on May 22. Further 115 individuals and companies will be subject to asset freezing and a 'ban' on making funds available. Sanctioned individuals are also barred from entering Switzerland or transiting through it. The department stated that the newly listed targets included people and 'entities connected to Russia's...

Donald Trump, President of the United States, vowed on Thursday to'recover' Iran's stockpile of highly enriched Uranium. This was despite Iran's comments that they would not give the material over. We will get it. We don't have to, and we don't even want it. Trump told reporters at the White House that he would probably destroy it once we had it. But we wouldn't let them keep it. Iran is thought to have about 900 pounds (or more) of highly enriched Uranium. Trump claims that U.S. airstrikes and Israeli airstrikes destroyed it a year or so ago. Trump's war on...

Sultan Al Jaber said that the new crude oil pipeline, which bypasses the Strait of Hormuz, and was started by the United Arab Emirates?last year, is now?50% completed. Since the U.S. and Israeli strikes in February, Iran has kept the critical waterway for global oil-and-gas supplies closed to all ships except its own. This has sent energy prices and inflation soaring, which has fuelled fears of a recession. Abu Dhabi Media Office announced the existence of the project for the first-time last week. The UAE plans to accelerate the construction of a new oil pipeline via Fujairah in order to...

Basim Mohammed, Iraq's new Oil Minister, told a?press?conference on Saturday that the country exported 10 million barrels?of?oil via the Strait?of Hormuz?in?April. This is down?from 93 million barrels per month before the Iran War. Oil prices have risen sharply since the Iran war closed the 'Strait of Hormuz. Iraqi crude oil exports via the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline resumed in march, after Baghdad agreed to restart the flow. Mohammed said: "We currently export 200,000 barrels via Ceyhan, but we plan to increase that to 500,000 barrels". Iraq 'plans to engage OPEC in order to boost its production - and export capacity. 'The minister...

Abu Dhabi Media Office announced on Friday that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will accelerate the construction of a new pipeline to double their export capacity through Fujairah. This will allow them to bypass the Strait of Hormuz. ADMO reported that during a meeting of the executive committee, Abu Dhabi Crown prince?Sheikh Khaled Bin Mohamed bin Zayed?directed the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company to speed up the West-East Pipeline Project. The pipeline is currently under construction and is expected to begin operating in 2027. The original timeline of the project was not disclosed. The UAE's Abu Dhabi Crude Oil Pipeline...

The nickel industry in Indonesia is being affected by the soaring sulfur prices due to the continuing closure of "the Strait of Hormuz". The Gulf is the main source of nickel for the world's biggest producer of battery metal. The sulfur squeeze is a new measure that the Indonesian government has introduced to try and control its nickel production. The explosive growth of the country's production will flood the global market, causing prices to plummet in 2024 and 2025. This month, the prospect of a lower Indonesian production and a corresponding change in market balance lifted London Metal Exchange nickel...

The soaring sulfur prices caused by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz are beginning to affect?Indonesia’s huge nickel sector. The Gulf is a major input to the world's biggest producer of battery metal. The sulfur squeeze is a new addition to the Indonesian government’s mix of measures to control its nickel production sector. The explosive growth of the country's production flooded the world market, and prices fell?throughout?2024-2025. This month, the prospect of lower Indonesian production and a corresponding change in market balance lifted London Metal Exchange nickel to its highest levels since two years. WAR AND POLITICS The Iran...