Mabux: Global Bunker Prices

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MABUX ARA LNG Bunker Index
Port LNG$/mton MGO LS$/mton Date
ARA
989.00
0.00
1 165.00
+20.00
Jul 14
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Port	LNG$/mton	MGO LS$/mton	Date
ARA	989.00	0.00	1 165.00	+20.00	Jul 14

MABUX Global Bunker Index

380HSFO$/mton		VLS FO$/mton		MGO LS$/mton		Date
630.00	+7.10	776.48	+7.43	1 250.88	+11.08	Jul 20

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MABUX Market Differential Index (MDI)

Correlation between market bunker prices (MBP) and MABUX Digital Bunker Price Benchmark (DBP)

All Indexes in $/mton	380HSFO			VLS FO			MGO LS			Date
All Indexes in $/mton	MBP Index	DBP Index	MDI	MBP Index	DBP Index	MDI	MBP Index	DBP Index	MDI	Date
Rotterdam	534	619	-85	672	692	-20	1 165	1 329	-164	Jul 20
Singapore	564	645	-81	774	783	-9	1 134	1 322	-188	Jul 20
Fujairah	577	593	-16	800	718	+82	1 350	1 385	-35	Jul 20
Houston	537	616	-79	685	713	-28	1 185	1 293	-108	Jul 20

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Latest News
- 2026-07-20
  Brent oil tops $90 as US, Iran intensify attacks in Middle East
  Oil prices jumped 3% on Monday, with Brent surpassing $90 a barrel, as the United States and Iran expanded attacks in the Middle East that have curbed energy shipments in the Strait of Hormuz. Brent crude futures climbed $2.69, or 3.05%, to $90.79... Read more Oil prices jumped 3% on Monday, with Brent surpassing $90 a barrel, as the United States and Iran expanded attacks in the Middle East that have curbed energy shipments in the Strait of Hormuz.
  
  Brent crude futures climbed $2.69, or 3.05%, to $90.79 by 2343 GMT, touching the highest since June 11, extending gains after rising 15.9% last week, its biggest weekly gain since April.
  
  U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was at $84.68 a barrel, up $2.19, or 2.65%, the loftiest since June 12. Front-month prices gained 15.5% last week, the largest weekly ascent since early March.
  
  The Middle East conflict escalated over the weekend with the U.S. conducting a ninth straight night of attacks against Iran, while U.S. allies Kuwait and Bahrain reported more Iranian strikes.
  
  In recent days both sides have taken aim at shipping traffic, with the U.S. saying it is enforcing a naval blockade on Iranian ports, and Iran saying it targets vessels violating its rules on navigating the Strait of Hormuz, which usually handles one-fifth of global oil trade.
  
  A vessel was on fire northwest of Oman’s Kumzar, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency said early on Monday.
  
  "The coming days and weeks will provide a clearer picture of the sustainable level of oil exports from the region under renewed dual blockades," Barclays analyst Amarpreet Singh said in a note.
  
  "As things stand, we think oil markets are still too complacent about the potential fallout for inventories, which, unlike at the beginning of the war, are at the tightest of the past five years."
  
  Four vessels made the transit through the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday, down from eight in the previous day, LSEG data showed. At least three oil products tankers and one Very Large Crude Carrier, have entered the strait since Friday to load oil, the data showed. Source: Reuters/Investing.com
- 2026-07-20
  Hormuz Closure Exposes Africa's Energy Dependence on Iran and China
  The ongoing restrictions on fuel trade, following the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, have led to widespread energy shortages in several parts of the world, demonstrating the vulnerabilities in many countries' energy security. As states look to develop... Read more The ongoing restrictions on fuel trade, following the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, have led to widespread energy shortages in several parts of the world, demonstrating the vulnerabilities in many countries' energy security. As states look to develop alternative, regional supply chains or turn to alternative energy sources, such as renewables, it has become clear that the ongoing geopolitical challenges will reshape global energy trade.
  
  The U.S.-Israeli-led war on Iran led to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz – a key trade corridor connecting the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea, through which around 20 per cent of the world's oil is transported when fully operational. Several months of closures have imposed significant constraints on energy trade, as many countries worldwide face severe fuel shortages.
  
  Some regions are disproportionately more vulnerable than others to the ongoing geopolitical situation and energy trade constraints. In Africa, many countries already face a wide range of challenges, from the impact of climate change to poverty and conflict. In previous years, Iran has sought to expand political and security engagement in parts of Africa, deepening its energy ties across the continent.
  
  The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has made the dependency of several African countries on Iran and Asian countries, such as China, increasingly evident. The ongoing restrictions on energy trade could lead alternative powers, such as Russia and Turkey, to deepen ties with African governments. Both Moscow and Ankara have already expanded their influence in certain countries through defence and military agreements, as well as diplomatic engagement.
  
  The severe fuel and fertiliser shortages being seen across Africa highlight the need to increase domestic energy capacity and strengthen regional supply chains. South Africa-based international relations analyst Aaliyah Vayez stressed, “The Hormuz crisis highlights how deeply connected Africa’s economic future is to global systems. It reinforces the need for countries to strengthen domestic capacity, diversify partnerships and reduce vulnerabilities across energy, trade and supply chains.”
  
  Much of the crude that Africa produces is exported due to a lack of refining capacity, only to be imported as refined petroleum products. Therefore, the development of greater refining capacity in countries such as Nigeria and Angola could help reduce dependence on foreign powers, add value to the industry, and boost regional energy security.
  
  In addition to adding value to existing oil operations, Africa also has significant potential to expand its renewable energy capacity to enhance energy security. Support for renewable energy has grown across the continent following a shift in demand trends during the COVID-19 pandemic, driven by greater interest from foreign investors in green energy and a greater focus on self-sufficiency.
  
  Several European countries are increasingly looking to Africa to support a global green transition. The African continent is home to a vast array of natural resources that are critical for renewable energy and cleantech operations. Several African countries are also well-suited for the development of green energy operations, such as wind and solar farms. Therefore, deepening trade connections between Europe and Africa is seen as key to supporting the transition.
  
  In 2024, gas was the main source of electricity in Africa, contributing to 43% of production across the continent. Oil burning accounts for roughly a further 8 per cent of electricity generation. The increase in oil and gas prices in recent months has, therefore, driven up electricity prices, adding to the cost of living. The challenges that accompany fossil fuel price volatility could be mitigated through the accelerated deployment of renewable energy across Africa.
  
  Africa is home to 60 per cent of the best solar resources globally, according to the International Energy Agency. It also has significant potential to develop wind, hydropower, and geothermal resources. Further, the development of critical mineral mining operations could bring investment to the region and support a green transition. A 2025 study suggested that harnessing just 25 per cent of Africa’s renewable energy potential could significantly reduce energy poverty, contributing to a sustainable, low-carbon future.
  
  Clean energy, including wind, solar, and hydropower, already accounts for at least 25 per cent of the continent’s energy production, and a significant pipeline of renewable energy projects is currently underway. Developing Africa’s renewable energy capacity, while also expanding its refining operations, could enhance its self-sufficiency and support the development of regional supply chains.
  
  Meanwhile, deepening ties between Europe and Africa could help diversify trade routes and reduce dependence on the Middle East and Asia for certain energy products, as well as metals and minerals. This could be mutually beneficial as investment from the private sector, the EU, and other high-income countries could support the accelerated deployment of Africa’s renewable energy capacity and add value to its existing fossil fuel operations. Meanwhile, European countries could develop trade corridors to diversify their energy supply and access vast quantities of clean power. Source: Oilprice.com
- 2026-07-20
  MABUX: Global bunker market to resume a sustained upward trend on Jul. 20.
  The MABUX World Bunker Index — a composite benchmark reflecting daily prices for 380 HSFO, VLSFO, and MGO — remained broadly stable on Jul. 17, with no clear directional trend: 380 HSFO: USD/MT: 622.90 (-1.60) VLSFO: USD/MT: 769.05 (-1.15) MGO: USD/MT:... Read more The MABUX World Bunker Index — a composite benchmark reflecting daily prices for 380 HSFO, VLSFO, and MGO — remained broadly stable on Jul. 17, with no clear directional trend:
  
  380 HSFO: USD/MT: 622.90 (-1.60)
  VLSFO: USD/MT: 769.05 (-1.15)
  MGO: USD/MT: 1 239.80 (+2.61)
  
  As of Jul. 17, the MABUX Market Differential Index (MDI), which monitors the spread between Market Bunker Prices (MBP) and the MABUX Digital Bunker Benchmark (DBP), showed the following developments across the four major global bunkering hubs—Rotterdam, Singapore, Fujairah, and Houston:
  
  • HSFO segment: Fujairah moved into the overcharge zone, becoming the only overvalued port in this fuel segment, with its premium widening by $9. Rotterdam, Singapore and Houston remained undervalued, although discounts narrowed by $5, $3 and $5, respectively. Fujairah's MDI remained close to the 100% correlation level between MBP and DBP.
  
  • VLSFO segment: Rotterdam returned to the overcharge zone, joining Singapore and Fujairah. Premiums widened by $9 in Rotterdam, narrowed by $3 in Singapore, and increased by $1 in Fujairah. Houston remained the only undervalued port, with its discount widening by $3. Fujairah's MDI continued to remain well above the $100 threshold, while Rotterdam's MDI hovered near the 100% correlation line between MBP and DBP.
  
  • MGO LS segment: Fujairah shifted back into the undercharge zone, leaving all four benchmark ports undervalued. Discounts widened by $20 in Rotterdam, $65 in Singapore, $40 in Fujairah and $35 in Houston. MDI values in Rotterdam, Singapore and Houston remained well above the $100 threshold.
  
  MABUX expects the Global bunker market to resume a sustained upward trend on Jul. 20: 380 HSFO: plus 5-10 USD/MT, VLSFO: plus 5–10 USD/MT, MGO LS: plus 5–10 USD/MT.
  Source: MABUX
- 2026-07-20
  Europe's Heatwave Is Becoming an Energy Crisis
  The intense early summer heatwave in Europe is warming the biggest rivers and drying up their water levels, disrupting energy deliveries, power generation, and key supply chain routes. The heatwaves in Europe started as early as June, with record-breaking... Read more The intense early summer heatwave in Europe is warming the biggest rivers and drying up their water levels, disrupting energy deliveries, power generation, and key supply chain routes.
  
  The heatwaves in Europe started as early as June, with record-breaking temperatures for weeks on end in Europe’s biggest economies, Germany and France.
  
  As a result, rainfall was severely limited, and key inland transportation river routes were affected by navigation restrictions, with curbs on the freight volumes a barge can ship. This, in turn, has raised shipping costs and added additional strains to the economies at a time when the protracted Strait of Hormuz crisis is already hiking Europe’s energy costs and inflation.
  
  On top of economic and inflationary effects in Germany, the heatwave actually curbed electricity supply in France.
  
  Early this week, France’s nuclear power generation was slashed by 6.4 gigawatts (GW), or about 14% of the country’s total power demand for the day, amid the heatwave that hiked river temperatures and limited the ability of the nuclear power plants to use the water to cool reactors.
  
  This is not the first time France has had to curb output at reactors and limit nuclear power production due to high summer temperatures.
  
  France still exported electricity to its neighbors despite reduced nuclear power output, but these events appear to be becoming more frequent as heatwaves last longer with more extreme temperatures.
  
  The same goes for disruption to shipping on the 800-mile-long Rhine River, the biggest inland shipping corridor in Europe, which is critically important for Germany’s and central Europe’s supply of coal, diesel, and goods.
  
  The Rhine handles an enormous amount of supplies for Europe, including fuel and coal, adding to supply chain issues that the Hormuz crisis has created for sea routes.
  
  The Rhine River, which runs northwest from Switzerland through Germany, France, and the Netherlands into the North Sea, is a major petroleum product transportation corridor in Europe. Due to the heatwaves and drought, the levels on the river are low and have now become too shallow for many barges shipping petroleum products to pass. Barges are not being fully loaded to keep them lighter on the water, which lifts shipping costs and delays shipments of coal, fuels, and other goods.
  
  The Kaub gauge, on the Middle Rhine between Koblenz and Mainz, sits at the shallowest chokepoint on the river. It sets the maximum draft and, therefore, the laden weight for every barge moving between the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp ARA seaports and the industrial hinterland of the Rhine valley, shared by Germany, France, and Switzerland.
  
  The previous major crisis with low Rhine water levels was in 2022, and in 2018 before that.
  
  The 2022 critically low Rhine levels occurred when the first energy crisis hit Europe and its economy after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
  
  This summer, the low Rhine level due to scarce rainfall and intense heatwaves coincides with the Middle East crisis to mount additional pressure on industry, energy supply and prices, transportation costs, and ultimately, inflation.
  
  Water level at the Kaub chokepoint is now at its lowest level in decades for mid-July, which has hiked the freight cost to ship diesel from Rotterdam to southern Germany by more than 50% in the past week.
  
  The early heatwaves and low river levels could pressure Germany’s industry and economy, which has just managed to shake off the initial shock from the Middle East crisis.
  
  Back in 2018, the low Rhine levels in November 2018 led to a 1.5% decline in Germany’s industrial production, which in turn lowered Germany’s GDP by 0.4%, according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy.
  
  This year, the end-June heatwave cost the German economy more than $6.8 billion, or 6 billion euros, an exclusive analysis by economic research firm Prognos for German business daily Handelsblatt showed this week.
  
  In the future, Germany could see three or four intense heatwaves each summer with temperatures exceeding 35 C, or 95 F. Prognos has estimated that Germany could lose 1 billion euros, or $1.14 billion, on each day in which temperatures exceed 35 C. Thus, the annual damage to the German economy could top 20 billion euros, or $23 billion. Source: Oilprice.com
- 2026-07-20
  Oil and Gas Employment Hits a 2026 Low Even as Production Sets Records
  Chevron is cutting up to 9,000 jobs this year. That's a fifth of its global workforce, gone, while it digests the $53 billion Hess deal. ExxonMobil trimmed 2,000. BP shed more than 5 percent of its staff, plus 3,000 contractors. ConocoPhillips is cutting... Read more Chevron is cutting up to 9,000 jobs this year. That's a fifth of its global workforce, gone, while it digests the $53 billion Hess deal. ExxonMobil trimmed 2,000. BP shed more than 5 percent of its staff, plus 3,000 contractors. ConocoPhillips is cutting 20 to 25 percent. Imperial Oil is cutting a fifth of its people and shutting its Calgary office entirely. And in June, U.S. oil and gas extraction employment fell to 114,500 workers, the second-lowest June the Bureau of Labor Statistics has on record, beaten only by the pandemic bottom of 2021.
  
  Production didn't fall; it's near record highs…but the jobs are disappearing anyway.
  
  And before anyone assumes it’s renewable energy’s fault…it isn’t, not directly, at least. Nobody at Chevron got a pink slip because a wind farm opened next door. Automation, mergers, and a decade of investors who'd rather see returns than growth did this.
  
  Ten Years, 72,800 Fewer Jobs
  
  Back in January 2016, extraction employment topped out at 187,300, right before the price crash gutted the sector…
  
  A decade on, the workforce sits almost 40 percent below that number, even while wells across the Permian and Eagle Ford keep breaking output records. This year alone tells the story in miniature… 115,500 in January, a bump to 116,200 in February, then a slide every month after, down to 114,500 by June.
  
  The May-to-June dip isn't even new. Extraction jobs have fallen in that exact window in 7 of the last 11 years. Call it seasonal if you want. The floor keeps dropping every year regardless.
  
  One footnote worth knowing: these figures get revised constantly. May's number came in at 115,600 first, then got walked back to 115,300 a month later. Treat any single month less like gospel and more like a rough read on direction.
  
  Extraction, though, is the smaller of the two numbers that matter here.
  
  Oilfield services, the drilling contractors, completions crews, pressure pumpers, employs something like 627,000 people, more than five times the extraction headcount, and it's been losing jobs even faster.
  
  The ripple effects run deep, too…every upstream job is estimated to support roughly 232,000 supply chain jobs and 421,000 more through spending, more than 850,000 positions riding on an industry that keeps figuring out how to need fewer people directly.
  
  The productivity data backs this up. Output per hour jumped 11.4 percent in 2023 while labor input barely budged, and total factor productivity swung from a 14.7 percent drop in 2021 to a 30.2 percent gain two years later. Nobody's working harder out there. They're working with better tools, and fewer of them.
  
  Who's Actually Getting the Call
  
  This year's layoff wave has less to do with oil prices than with a decade of mergers finally catching up.
  
  Chevron's cuts, the largest in company history, are chasing $2 billion to $3 billion in savings from folding Hess into the existing operation.
  
  “We do not take these actions lightly,” a spokesperson said, which is the sort of thing companies always say.
  
  BP is chasing a similar $2 billion target. ExxonMobil's cuts followed its own Pioneer deal.
  
  Merge two companies, and merging their field offices comes next, whether or not a single well changes how it produces.
  
  The services companies have a more familiar excuse…business has slowed.
  
  Halliburton has been cutting across at least three divisions this year, with some units down 20 to 40 percent. SLB has been through its own rounds of cuts and reshuffling. Both companies live and die by the rig count, and the rig count hasn't been kind.
  
  There's a bit of irony buried in here, too. Chevron moved its headquarters from California to Houston back in 2024, calling it a bet on Texas. Some of this year's cuts landed on that same Houston campus.
  
  West Texas Learns to Sell Electricity
  
  Texas is the one place that complicates the whole story...
  
  Upstream jobs there grew for three straight months into May, then reversed hard in June, down 1,500 to 2,000 positions, one of five negative months this year. And yet Texas posted 10,409 job listings in May, up 6 percent from April, more than any other state. Houston alone had nearly 2,700 listings.
  
  Most of that hiring, by the way, sits in support activities and services, not extraction itself, the same layer of the industry absorbing the deepest cuts everywhere else.
  
  What's really rewriting the Permian right now isn't drilling. It's electricity.
  
  Microsoft is talking with Chevron and Engine No. 1 about a $7 billion gas plant near Pecos, built specifically to feed an AI data center, wired straight into Chevron's own gas wells instead of the overloaded Texas grid.
  
  A couple hundred miles east, OpenAI's Stargate campus in Abilene runs the same play… its own gas plant, no grid required.
  
  One of these data centers can use 5 to 6 million gallons of water a day, which works out to roughly 143,000 barrels in oilfield terms.
  
  Basin boosters have started talking about exporting electricity instead of barrels. And that shift is already changing who gets hired locally: electricians, welders, power technicians, not another frack crew.
  
  Pay Doesn't Match Who's Needed
  
  Geoscientists earn a median $99.50 an hour, more than $206,000 a year.
  
  Petroleum engineers aren't far off at $86.58.
  
  Roustabouts, the entry-level hands doing the physical work on a wellsite, earn $23.30 an hour, under $49,000 a year. Wellhead pumpers make $36.62.
  
  Guess which end of that range is disappearing fastest… It's the bottom.
  
  And yet half of mining and extraction employers say they can't find enough electricians and skilled trades, even while total headcount shrinks.
  
  That's not really about too few workers. It's about the wrong skills sitting in the wrong hands: a modern, automated wellsite runs on sensor systems, remote monitoring and predictive maintenance, not the training a lot of the existing workforce spent years building.
  
  Veterans make up about 9 percent of the broader energy workforce, more than their share of the economy overall, and roughly three in ten energy workers are under 30. Both groups are exactly who geothermal startups and data center builders are trying to recruit right now.
  
  Where the Skills Actually Go
  
  None of this means oil and gas workers have nowhere to go. It means where they can go doesn't always match where they happen to be standing.
  
  Geothermal is the clearest match. A 2024 Energy Department estimate put the number of people who already have the drilling and subsurface skills geothermal needs at roughly 300,000.
  
  The actual geothermal workforce today? Just 8,870. That gap is basically all headroom.
  
  Drillers who've made the jump describe it as barely different work, still making a hole in the ground, still sealing it up, just chasing heat instead of hydrocarbons.
  
  One driller who spent a decade in New England wells now runs drilling for a geothermal company and says the safety training and the technical chops carried over almost untouched.
  
  The Energy Department has put $171.5 million behind next-generation geothermal testing, and a federal advisory panel wants dedicated training centers built to move oil and gas crews over directly, plus a plan to keep veteran workers around as mentors so decades of unwritten wellsite knowledge doesn't walk out the door with them.
  
  Zoom out further and clean energy overall looks lopsided in a way that's easy to misread.
  
  Solar, wind, EVs, efficiency and grid work together employ 3.56 million people now, more than three times the roughly 1.9 million across oil, gas and coal, and growing about three times faster than the rest of the economy. Sounds like the obvious landing spot.
  
  Except the jobs aren't where the layoffs are.
  
  Researchers have documented a real geographic mismatch: the places losing oil and gas jobs and the places adding clean energy ones are rarely the same places, and workers don't relocate for a new job even when their skills transfer cleanly.
  
  Texas is the case in point.
  
  Its clean energy sector employs more than 283,000 people, but that's still only 29 percent of the state's total energy workforce. Even that growth has slowed, with policy rollbacks from this year's federal budget law putting an estimated 830,000 jobs at risk nationwide.
  
  For most workers this isn't a straight line from a rig to a wind farm. It's whatever's actually nearby…a data center outside Abilene, a geothermal rig in New England, a services company retooling around software instead of headcount.
  
  That doesn't make the industry disposable, either. A leaner oilfield is a more profitable one per worker, and people who survive a merger often land in better-paying, more specialized jobs than the ones they started in. It's a narrow set of job categories disappearing. Not the whole industry.
  
  Same Industry. Fewer, Different Jobs.
  
  The industry isn't dying…It's producing near-record volumes and probably will for a while. What's changed, though, is how few people it takes to hit those numbers, and which people those are. Fewer roughnecks, more automation technicians. Fewer roustabouts, more remote operations specialists. That pay gap is only going to get wider as the mix keeps shifting.
  
  Whether anyone plans for it or not, the workforce is already sorting itself out. Source: Oilprice.com
- 2026-07-20
  India Proposes Stricter Vehicle Emission Rules To Cut Oil Consumption
  The Indian government has proposed stricter fuel efficiency regulations for passenger vehicles under the Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency (CAFE)-III norms, with the new fuel standards set to take effect on April 1, 2027. Released by the Ministry of Power... Read more The Indian government has proposed stricter fuel efficiency regulations for passenger vehicles under the Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency (CAFE)-III norms, with the new fuel standards set to take effect on April 1, 2027. Released by the Ministry of Power for public consultation, these rules aim to lower vehicular emissions, decrease reliance on imported crude oil, and shrink the nation's rising oil import bill.
  
  To capture real-world emissions accurately, the framework will transition from the Modified Indian Driving Cycle (MIDC) to the more comprehensive World Light Duty Vehicle Testing Procedure (WLTP). Under the new rules, M1 category passenger vehicles (weighing up to 3,500 kg, including hatchbacks, sedans, and SUVs) are expected to cut their fuel consumption from 3.996 liters/100 km in 2027–28 to 3.327 liters/100 km by 2031–32. CAFE-3 emission rules will tighten carbon targets from 113 g/km to 76 g/km by 2032, with non-compliance attracting severe penalties ranging from ?2,500 to ?4,500 per gram of excess CO?/km.
  
  Car manufacturers that outperform their fleet-wide targets will earn compliance credits, which they can sell via a market trading system to manufacturers that fall short of the efficiency baseline, avoiding hefty government penalties. Additionally, for the first time, the policy gives regulatory benefits to cars powered by alternative fuels. Automakers selling flex-fuel, ethanol-powered or biofuel vehicles will get a more favorable emission value calculation, rewarding lower lifecycle carbon emissions. This complements the government's simultaneous push for 100% ethanol (E100) vehicles.
  
  Other than lower emissions and lower fuel bills, car buyers are likely to benefit from a broader market selection of hybrids, electric vehicles (EVs) and alternative fuel models. Automakers are planning to launch over 15 new EV models, bringing the total market options to well over 35. Meanwhile, brands like MG are introducing innovative plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) built on new multi-energy platforms to give buyers long-range convenience alongside low running costs. On the downside, more stringent technology mandates are expected to increase vehicle manufacturing costs, potentially driving up upfront sticker prices.
  
  Source: Oilprice.com
- 2026-07-20
  BP, ConocoPhillips Partner In Iraq’s Giant Oilfield
  ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) agreed to acquire a 42% stake in BP Plc’s (NYSE:BP) development subsidiary covering four major oilfields in the Kirkuk region of northern Iraq, with the partnership aiming to rehabilitate and optimize production at a cost of... Read more ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) agreed to acquire a 42% stake in BP Plc’s (NYSE:BP) development subsidiary covering four major oilfields in the Kirkuk region of northern Iraq, with the partnership aiming to rehabilitate and optimize production at a cost of ~$25 billion. The deal brings ConocoPhillips back to Iraq for the first time in over a decade, and aligns with Baghdad’s goal to expand U.S. energy investments. The Development and Production Contract (DPC) targets an initial phase aiming to extract more than 3 billion barrels of oil equivalent. Both firms expect the joint venture to function as an equity affiliate, requiring no significant upfront capital contributions from the companies while returns will link proportionally to incremental production volumes and costs. Current state operators Northern Oil Company and Northern Gas Company will retain their active roles.
  
  Iraqi Prime Minister Ali Al-Zaidi recently pitched major energy deals to Western majors like ConocoPhillips and Chevron Corp.(NYSE:CVX) to counter the dominant presence of Chinese firms in Iraq's energy landscape. The century-old Kirkuk fields have suffered long-term output declines exacerbated by regional conflict.The super-giant Kirkuk oil field in northern Iraq is undergoing a major $25 billion redevelopment led by BP and ConocoPhillips to boost recoverable resources and production.
  
  Discovered in 1927 at Baba Gurgur, the super-giant Kirkuk oil field contains over 3 billion barrels of initial gross recoverable resources and remains the cornerstone of northern Iraqi oil output. The field has historically produced up to 1 million barrels per day, but currently produces between 285,000 and 330,000 barrels per day, largely for domestic consumption. However, Iraq's North Oil Company successfully restarted crude oil exports of 250,000 barrels per day via the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline to Turkey in March 2026, following nearly three years of suspension. Historically dependent on the Kirkuk–Ceyhan Oil Pipeline to transit crude north through Turkey, Iraq has actively sought diversified routes to bypass maritime chokepoints like the Strait of Hormuz. This includes multi-government initiatives backed by the U.S. to reconstruct the long-dormant, 800-kilometer Kirkuk–Baniyas pipeline directly through Syria to the Mediterranean coast. Source: Oilprice.com
- 2026-07-20
  Jeff Currie: Illusion of Oil Abundance Is Gone
  Carlyle Group Chief Strategy Officer, Jeff Currie, has declared that the global oil market's "illusion of abundance" has vanished, warning that the market has rapidly transitioned from a standard supply deficit into a structural energy shortage. According... Read more Carlyle Group Chief Strategy Officer, Jeff Currie, has declared that the global oil market's "illusion of abundance" has vanished, warning that the market has rapidly transitioned from a standard supply deficit into a structural energy shortage. According to the former head of commodities research at Goldman Sachs, the real signal of a market deficit comes from refined product markets, where crack spreads have skyrocketed to an unprecedented $70 a barrel--a historic level wherein the processing spread nearly equals the price of the crude itself.
  
  Currie says the perception of an oil glut was temporarily created by large inventory drawdowns from the Strategic Petroleum Reserves of 32 IEA members, including the release of 172 million barrels of crude from the U.S. SPR. The fragile supply balance has been further exacerbated by various systemic bottlenecks, with the lack of sufficient buffers to absorb the supply shocks putting oil markets in a precarious position. Oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz remain highly volatile, with recent U.S. naval actions and renewed retaliatory strikes by Iran causing crossings to plummet again after a brief recovery. Meanwhile, damage to many of Russia's refineries has severely tightened global fuel supplies, cutting Russian crude processing to its lowest level since 2005 and wiping over 1.4 million barrels per day of refinery capacity from the markets. This has forced Russia to ban exports of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, driving up global diesel margins and leaving importers scrambling for alternative supplies.
  
  The IEA has warned that global oil inventories are on track to plunge to historical lows due to an unprecedented supply shock ahead of the Northern Hemisphere’s peak summer driving and flying season. Global observed inventories crashed by over 250 million barrels between March and May, drawing down at an average rate of 3.8 million bpd since the start of the Middle East conflict. OECD government inventories have been aggressively depleted to cushion the market, dropping to their lowest levels since December 1990, while Strategic Reserve stockpiles in the United States dropped to roughly 316 million barrels following record drawdowns.
  
  Source: Oilprice.com
- 2026-07-20
  China Seeks Long-Term LNG Deals Beyond the Strait of Hormuz
  China’s giant state LNG importers are in talks to secure long-term LNG supplies from exporters that don’t need the Strait of Hormuz, as the world’s biggest LNG buyer seeks to reduce its exposure to gas deliveries from the Persian Gulf, sources familiar... Read more China’s giant state LNG importers are in talks to secure long-term LNG supplies from exporters that don’t need the Strait of Hormuz, as the world’s biggest LNG buyer seeks to reduce its exposure to gas deliveries from the Persian Gulf, sources familiar with the plans told Bloomberg on Friday.
  
  China is the top LNG customer of Qatar, and it sourced nearly 30% of its LNG supply from the Gulf exporter last year.
  
  But as the Middle East conflict erupted and led to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and damaged Qatari facilities, imports into China have crumbled.
  
  In the second quarter of this year, China imported only about 100,000 tons of LNG from Qatar, down from as much as 4.7 million tons in the same period last year, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg.
  
  Some of China’s state-controlled majors have signed long-term deals in recent years with Qatar in exchange for minority stakes in some of the expansion projects of the Gulf producer, part of which will be delayed due to the war.
  
  China will not be seeking to cancel its binding contracts with Qatar, according to Bloomberg’s sources.
  
  But Beijing is exploring options to reduce its exposure to Gulf supply. Some of the biggest Chinese LNG buyers, including PetroChina and Sinopec, are in talks with exporters for potential deliveries starting before 2030 for a period of at least ten years, the sources told Bloomberg.
  
  Canada is one option, according to one of these sources.
  
  Canada is vying to boost its energy exports to Asia in its quest to become an energy superpower and diversify its energy exports away from too much dependence on the United States.
  
  China’s dilemma in non-Hormuz LNG sourcing is that it would likely prefer to avoid dependence on U.S. LNG export volumes amid trade and tariff policy uncertainties under U.S. President Donald Trump. Source: Oilprice.com
- 2026-07-20
  South Korea Bets on Red Sea Route as Hormuz Disruptions Persist
  Since the Iran war disrupted shipments through the Strait of Hormuz in early March, South Korea has been increasingly betting on the Red Sea route and the Saudi export terminal of Yanbu to load oil on tankers and ship it to Asia. Before the Iran war... Read more Since the Iran war disrupted shipments through the Strait of Hormuz in early March, South Korea has been increasingly betting on the Red Sea route and the Saudi export terminal of Yanbu to load oil on tankers and ship it to Asia.
  
  Before the Iran war began, South Korea depended on cargoes transited via the Strait of Hormuz for as much as 61% of its crude oil imports and 54% of its naphtha imports.
  
  South Korea, one of Asia’s biggest economies and one of the largest energy importers in the region, has sought to diversify its crude imports not only with supplies from producers outside the Middle East but also via the Red Sea route. Saudi Arabia has redirected to this route the better part of its crude oil shipments amid the disruptions and threats to commercial shipping in and around the Strait of Hormuz.
  
  South Korea’s Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries announced on Friday that a South Korean oil tanker successfully transited the Red Sea and is currently en route to Asia. This was South Korea’s 14th crude oil shipment to use the route since the Middle East conflict cut off most of the trade through the Strait of Hormuz.
  
  The tanker loaded crude oil at Saudi Arabia’s Yanbu Port on the Red Sea before passing through the Red Sea and heading toward South Korea, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries said, without providing too much detail of the vessel’s movements for safety reasons.
  
  The government “considers using the Red Sea route to be the most realistic option for the time being, as the Strait of Hormuz has yet to stabilize,” the ministry said in a statement carried by South Korea’s news agency Yonhap.
  
  However, the newly created South Korean route to load Saudi oil for Asia could be at risk as the Iran-aligned Houthis in Yemen are reportedly waiting for the green light from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to close the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and choke the exports via the Red Sea.
  
  Source: Oilprice.com

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