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MABUX ARA LNG Bunker Index
Port LNG$/mton MGO LS$/mton Date
ARA
1 449.00
+93.00
1 440.00
+55.00
Sep 7
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Port	LNG$/mton	MGO LS$/mton	Date
ARA	1 449.00	+93.00	1 440.00	+55.00	Sep 7

MABUX Global Bunker Index

380HSFO$/mton		VLS FO$/mton		MGO LS$/mton		Date
693.15	+20.36	849.74	+19.79	1 503.57	+39.86	Sep 11

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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	620	740	-120	720	841	-121	1 440	1 628	-188	Sep 11
Singapore	700	783	-83	890	965	-75	1 355	1 621	-266	Sep 11
Fujairah	690	730	-40	938	905	+33	1 512	1 684	-172	Sep 11
Houston	570	734	-164	785	881	-96	1 448	1 600	-152	Sep 11

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Latest News
- 2026-09-14
  New attacks in Hormuz and Saudi test nerves as war’s spread worsens oil disruption
  New strikes on Saudi Arabia and on ships in the Gulf tested nerves in the Middle East on Sunday, after an attack on a Saudi oil pipeline and an advance by Yemen’s Houthis threatened to worsen the wartime disruption to global energy supplies. Oil traders... Read more New strikes on Saudi Arabia and on ships in the Gulf tested nerves in the Middle East on Sunday, after an attack on a Saudi oil pipeline and an advance by Yemen’s Houthis threatened to worsen the wartime disruption to global energy supplies.
  
  Oil traders were expecting prices to rise again when markets reopen on Monday, following the weekend developments that jeopardise supplies from the world’s biggest exporter, Saudi Arabia.
  
  The British maritime security agency ‌UKMTO said on Sunday that a vessel had been struck by a projectile as it moved through the Strait of Hormuz, causing a fire and forcing the crew to be evacuated. Iran, for its part, said one person was killed and four crew wounded aboard an Iranian commercial vessel struck off its coast.
  
  In Saudi Arabia, state media released video of damage to homes and a mosque from the purported latest cross-border attack by the Houthis, in Jazan province in the south. The Houthis claimed separately to have struck a Saudi military base in a neighbouring province.
  
  Southern Saudi cities have experienced regular alerts since last week, culminating in drone strikes on Friday that knocked out the 1,200-km (745-mile) east-west pipeline across the Arabian Peninsula that has served as the main route for global supplies of Middle East oil bypassing the Strait of Hormuz.
  
  That same day, the Houthis captured Perim Island, which lies in the middle of the Bab El-Mandeb, the "Gate of Tears" strait that controls the mouth of the Red Sea.
  
  U.S. DIESEL HITS ANOTHER RECORD
  
  Oil prices surged above $100 last week for the first time since July. The politically sensitive retail price of diesel fuel in the United States rose on Sunday to another all-time high above $6.20 a gallon.
  
  Traders and Saudi oil buyers told Reuters on Sunday that Riyadh has enough oil stored at its Red Sea port of Yanbu to maintain exports for just five to seven days if the pipeline struck on Friday remains shut.
  
  After that, as much as 4% of global oil supply could be jeopardised, on top of the millions of barrels a day already lost to the disruption to traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.
  
  Saudi Arabia has not given full details of the extent of damage to the pipeline or said how long it will remain offline. Sources that spoke to Reuters have given conflicting estimates for the time needed to fix it, ranging from days to weeks. Satellite images have shown huge columns of smoke from locations along the pipeline.
  
  TALKS IN OMAN POSTPONED
  
  After a quiet August when flows of Middle East oil trickled back up, the past two weeks have seen a steady escalation in the war that the United States and Israel launched six months ago. No peace talks have been held since an interim agreement in June collapsed after a few weeks.
  
  In a rare diplomatic initiative, Iranian officials had said they would attend a meeting on Monday with Gulf Arab states in Oman to present an agreement they say has been reached with Oman governing future shipping routes through the strait.
  
  Advertisement
  But Oman’s foreign minister, Sayyid Badr Albusaidi, posted late Sunday that the regional meeting had been postponed "in the interests of consensus."
  
  "We remain committed to fostering dialogue that supports stability and lasting cooperation in our region," he wrote in a post on X.
  
  Iran’s Fars news agency cited an Iranian foreign ministry official on Sunday evening as saying that the Oman meeting was postponed at the request of some regional countries in a decision jointly made by Tehran and Muscat. The official said Iran would coordinate with Oman to determine a suitable date for holding the meeting, the agency said.
  
  Iraq had said it would send a delegation, and a Gulf official had told Reuters that Saudi Arabia and Qatar would be represented by their foreign ministers.
  
  A senior Iranian official had told Reuters on Saturday that officials would discuss Hormuz and other issues at the meeting, but added it would probably not yield a signed agreement to reopen the strait. Bahrain said it would not meet with any Iranians.
  
  In an interview with London-based pan-Arab news outlet Al-Arabi Al-Jadeed, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said despite any agreement with Oman, Iran would not reopen the strait until the United States satisfies Tehran’s demands.
  
  HOUTHI ADVANCES POSE NEW DILEMMA FOR WASHINGTON
  
  The U.S. has so far failed to achieve the objectives President Donald Trump set out when he launched "Operation Epic Fury" in February: to end Iran’s nuclear programme, prevent it from being able to attack its neighbours and create conditions for its people to topple their rulers.
  
  Iran, having withstood the superpower onslaught despite military and economic losses, hopes to emerge stronger than before the war, including with the newfound power to collect fees from ships that use the strait.
  
  The attacks on Saudi Arabia and the Houthi advances in Yemen pose a new dilemma for Washington, which wants to support its Saudi allies and protect shipping but is wary of joining war on another front. The Houthi attacks have also left Gulf states with a difficult choice: accept growing economic pain or engage with Iran.
  
  The Houthis, mountain fighters who captured Yemen’s capital in 2014, have been battling a Saudi-led coalition for more than a decade but had mostly kept out of the wider Middle East war until recent weeks. Their advance along the Red Sea coast is part of the biggest eruption of fighting in Yemen for years.
  
  The United States bombed the Houthis for two months in 2025, but Trump halted that campaign after announcing the group had lifted a threat to attack Red Sea shipping.
  
  Three sources told Reuters that Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, phoned Trump on Thursday asking for military aid to fight the Houthis, but was offered only intelligence support for now.
  
  Trump acknowledged on Saturday that he had spoken to the crown prince, and said the Houthis had also phoned the U.S. administration, asking Washington to keep out of the Yemen war.
  
  Source: Reuters/Investing.com
- 2026-09-14
  Oil Prices Surge as Middle East Attacks Continue and Diplomacy Stumbles
  Oil prices initially jumped by over 3% in early Asian trade on Monday as fears of a major and extended supply disruption were stoked by continued attacks in the Middle East and the postponement of a crunch meeting between Gulf states and Iran. At... Read more Oil prices initially jumped by over 3% in early Asian trade on Monday as fears of a major and extended supply disruption were stoked by continued attacks in the Middle East and the postponement of a crunch meeting between Gulf states and Iran.
  
  At the time of writing, both benchmarks had fallen back slightly, with WTI futures trading at $102.2 per barrel, 2.16% higher on the day, and Brent futures up 2.14% at $106.8 per barrel.
  
  Over the weekend, the Houthis claimed to have launched a large-scale missile and drone attack against Saudi Arabia, saying they had struck a military base in Sharurah. Saudi state media did not confirm that attack, but separately reported that a projectile fell in the Jazan region. The attack appears to be the latest escalation in the conflict between Saudi Arabia and Iranian proxies, following a drone attack on the East-West Pipeline that was launched from Iraq last week.
  
  At the same time, the UKMTO released an alert saying a vessel within the Strait of Hormuz had been struck by an unknown projectile. The AP later reported that an Iranian cargo vessel had been struck early on Sunday off Qeshm Island, although it is unclear if this is the same attack.
  
  Adding to the bullish sentiment in oil markets, Oman’s Foreign Minister, Badr Albusaidi, then announced that a Monday meeting between Gulf states and Iran had been postponed due to a lack of consensus. The meeting had been scheduled to discuss a potential deal between Iran and Oman over the temporary management of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. It would have been the first time that top diplomats from the GCC had sat down as a group with their Iranian counterparts since the war began.
  
  Even before the latest escalations, last week’s attacks on Saudi Arabia’s East-West Pipeline had already put oil markets on edge, with the Kingdom having to close one of the region's most important crude export routes. Traders are now concerned that up to 4% of global oil supply could be lost if that pipeline isn’t reopened within days. The scale of the damage remains unclear, with reports that multiple pumping stations were hit by drones launched from Iraq.
  
  It isn’t just the East-West Pipeline that is threatening Saudi oil supply beyond the Strait of Hormuz, with the Houthis gaining territory within Yemen last week and increasing their control over the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. Critically, the group reached the strategically significant island of Perim last week, which would allow them to monitor and potentially mine the Red Sea waterway.
  
  With diplomacy stumbling, attacks continuing, and plenty of uncertainty around just how much supply will be leaving the region in the coming weeks, things are looking increasingly bullish for oil markets. If Saudi Arabia is able to quickly restore throughput through the East-West Pipeline and the meeting between Gulf states and Iran is rescheduled, some pressure may be eased, but until traders get some visibility on that, prices are likely to climb. Source: Oilprice.com
- 2026-09-14
  MABUX: Global bunker indices to extend gains on Sep. 14 amid renewed escalation in Hormuz.
  The MABUX World Bunker Index — a composite benchmark reflecting daily prices for 380 HSFO, VLSFO, and MGO – ended the week on a firm upward trajectory on Sep. 11, posting gains for the fifth consecutive session: 380 HSFO: USD/MT: 693.15 (+20.36) VLSFO:... Read more The MABUX World Bunker Index — a composite benchmark reflecting daily prices for 380 HSFO, VLSFO, and MGO – ended the week on a firm upward trajectory on Sep. 11, posting gains for the fifth consecutive session:
  
  380 HSFO: USD/MT: 693.15 (+20.36)
  VLSFO: USD/MT: 849.74 (+19.79)
  MGO: USD/MT: 1 503.57 (+39.86)
  
  As of Sep. 11, the MABUX Market Differential Index (MDI), which tracks the spread between Market Bunker Prices (MBP) and the MABUX Digital Bunker Benchmark (DBP), indicated the following trends across the four major global bunkering hubs—Rotterdam, Singapore, Fujairah, and Houston:
  
  • HSFO segment: All four ports remained underpriced. MDI discounts widened by $15 in Rotterdam, $11 in Singapore, $25 in Fujairah, and $5 in Houston. The underpricing levels in Rotterdam and Houston stayed above the $100 mark.
  
  • VLSFO segment: Fujairah remained the only overpriced port, although its premium narrowed by another $11. The other three hubs stayed underpriced, with MDI discounts widening by $20 in Rotterdam, $25 in Singapore, and $3 in Houston. Rotterdam's underpricing remained above the $100 threshold, while Houston moved closer to this level.
  
  • MGO LS segment: All four ports remained in the underpriced zone. MDI discounts declined by $53 in Rotterdam, $73 in Singapore, $38 in Fujairah, and $1 in Houston. Despite the contraction, underpricing remained well above the $100 mark across all four hubs.
  
  MABUX expects global bunker indices to maintain their upward momentum on Sep. 14, supported by renewed escalation in and around the Strait of Hormuz and a corresponding rise in geopolitical and supply-risk premiums:
  380 HSFO: plus 5-15 USD/MT, VLSFO: plus 5-20 USD/MT, MGO LS: plus 10–35 USD/MT.
  Source: MABUX
- 2026-09-14
  Oil Industry Braces for Years-Long Iran War
  Oil producers, traders, and refiners are bracing for a prolonged war between the United States and Iran in the Persian Gulf with little to no hope of a quick resolution. By extension, they are also preparing for higher prices for longer, a theme present... Read more Oil producers, traders, and refiners are bracing for a prolonged war between the United States and Iran in the Persian Gulf with little to no hope of a quick resolution. By extension, they are also preparing for higher prices for longer, a theme present at this year’s edition of the Asia Pacific Petroleum Conference.
  
  Reuters’ Clyde Russell reported this week that the mood at APPEC was not particularly cheerful as hostilities in the Middle East escalate once again, suggesting achieving peace would be quite a challenge. The Reuters columnist called it “a war of egos”, in which neither the U.S. president nor Iran’s leadership would accept anything less than an ostensible victory.
  
  However, Russell also reported that the Asian oil industry wants Trump to leave the Persian Gulf and let the local countries deal with “the mess” that the U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran left. Clearly, this is the most unlikely scenario of all possible scenarios, so drillers, traders, and refiners in Asia and beyond are preparing for a long disruption in oil flows out of the Middle East—and waiting for the U.S. midterm elections.
  
  “We need a political settlement, but that will take ‌regime change in Washington or Tehran,” one APPEC delegate told Reuters’ Russell, adding that it was more likely for regime change to take place in the United States than in Iran, which appears to be a widely shared view among the event’s delegates. However, it would be difficult to argue that a Democrat win at the November midterms would translate into any form of regime change. This, in turn, means the war will likely extend into next year and possibly last until Trump’s term in office ends.
  
  The implications of such a scenario are rather unpleasant, economically speaking. Brent is back above $100 per barrel, and this is just the futures price, not the price for physical deliveries. Those often cost a lot more, Russell and other commentators have repeatedly pointed out. Bloomberg just this week reported that Russia’s ESPO blend has surged to a premium of some $20 per barrel to Brent crude as Chinese independent refiners run out of alternative options, with the U.S. naval blockade on Iranian ports and the grab for Venezuelan crude cutting off two main supply channels.
  
  Traders appear to have started paying more attention to physical prices than the futures market chart, Russell also noted in his report. This is a positive development because the fixation on futures prices missed a lot of what was happening in the physical market, which was mostly higher prices due to surging insurance and freight rates.
  
  Tanker rates this month hit an all-time high as escalating risks to shipping in and out of the Middle East prompt traders and tanker operators to undertake inefficient and more expensive trade routes. The much longer workarounds are tying tankers and supertankers for longer with the shippers, tightening the market of available vessels so much that rates are skyrocketing to all-time highs. The benchmark daily rate for a very large crude carrier to ship oil from the Middle East to China has hit a record high of almost $800,000, per data compiled by Bloomberg.
  
  Reuters’ Russell, meanwhile, reports that the freight rate for a tanker from the Persian Gulf to North Asia has surged to $30 per barrel of crude, up from $6 per barrel before the war. Insurance rates are also soaring, currently running at $2.50 per barrel, up from $0.05 per barrel. This means Persian Gulf producers need to offer discounts in order to move their oil—risking a missile strike in the process, no less—and these discounts have become the new focus of attention for traders. The other focus is the premium that blends sold outside the Gulf command, with Russia’s ESPO a case in point.
  
  What is a difficult situation in crude oil is a lot more difficult in fuels. The fuel crunch is getting increasingly severe, and a prolonged war for the Strait of Hormuz will make matters quite a lot worse, as stated by industry executives at APPEC earlier this week. “We're still not running enough refining capacity to prevent those draws, and we keep eating into the surplus that exists around the world,” Vitol’s Russell Hardy said at the industry conference.
  
  Refineries have been running at higher than normal rates to make up for lost production from the Middle East and Russia, but this has not been enough because, as noted by Vitol’s chief executive, there is not enough capacity to make up for all the production lost.
  
  When the U.S. and Israel launched those first strikes on Iran, the general mood was that the war won’t last more than a week—perhaps a month. Then the timeline got moving, as it became clear that it was not going to be as easy to subdue Iran as expected, and as Iran shocked everyone by finally following through on its threat to close the Strait of Hormuz. Peace is not an immediate option, it seems. Brent and WTI are both over $100 per barrel. And there is no end-of-the-week Truth Social post by President Trump about the resumption of negotiations. This is, to put it mildly, not a good sign.
  
  Source: Oilprice.com
- 2026-09-14
  Iran’s Security Crackdown Runs Into Resistance From Within
  Iran's parliament is trying to turn fears of foreign infiltration into law. But as lawmakers work through the legislation, the debate is exposing an increasingly awkward question for the Islamic Republic: How far should the state go in policing Iranians'... Read more Iran's parliament is trying to turn fears of foreign infiltration into law. But as lawmakers work through the legislation, the debate is exposing an increasingly awkward question for the Islamic Republic: How far should the state go in policing Iranians' contact with the outside world?
  
  At the center of that debate is Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, who, at least publicly, is doing a balancing act. He has defended the need for tougher measures against foreign infiltration while warning that the current draft of the legislation goes too far.
  
  "No patriot opposes countering foreign infiltration," Qalibaf said during a recent parliamentary session. But, he added, lawmakers needed to ensure that people's "rights, their lives, and their trade" were not affected.
  
  He said security agencies may need to be able to vet Iranians' contacts with foreigners but that they cannot demand permission at every stage.
  
  "They say they want to be certain, to have permission sought from them at every stage," the conservative speaker said. "That's not possible, because then we'd have to lock the country down."
  
  That balancing act gets to the heart of a bill that was conceived as a wartime response to genuine security failures. The two recent wars exposed how deeply Israeli intelligence had penetrated Iran and prompted calls for tougher measures to identify and prevent foreign influence.
  
  But what began as a security response has evolved into a much broader fight over the boundaries of the Islamic republic's security state.
  
  The bill, formally called the Plan To Counter The Infiltration Of Intelligence Services And Foreign Governments Or Institutions but commonly referred to as the "infiltration bill," would require Iranians to obtain prior approval from the Intelligence Ministry and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Intelligence Organization before engaging in a sweeping range of activities.
  
  Those activities include publishing books or articles, academic cooperation, interviews with foreign media deemed "hostile," and participation in scientific conferences or arts festivals. The bill also includes provisions criminalizing interviews, discussions, and other communication with media deemed hostile, as well as sending photographs, videos, audio, or other material to foreign media, with violations punishable by prison terms of up to two years.
  
  Parliament approved the bill's general framework in mid-August by a lopsided 183-4 vote. The draft has since expanded from 19 to 33 articles as it has moved through the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee.
  
  Only its first two articles have so far cleared the floor, while the remaining provisions remain subject to revision. Even if parliament approves them, the bill will still require Guardian Council approval before it can become law.
  
  The political resistance, however, has already begun.
  
  Qalibaf has sent two of the bill's most consequential provisions -- Articles 7 and 8, which deal with the disclosure process and penalties for exceeding the scope of a permit -- back to the committee because of ambiguities.
  
  Qalibaf has insisted that parliament must address the security agencies' concerns, saying their "needs" would be met "within reasonable bounds." But he has rejected the idea that the Intelligence Ministry and IRGC Intelligence Organization should effectively have the power to approve Iranians' foreign contacts at every turn.
  
  He has also dismissed suggestions that the bill should be shelved at the government's request.
  
  When First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref claimed Qalibaf had privately promised to stop the legislation, an MP repeated the allegation on the parliamentary floor. Qalibaf rejected it, stressing that parliament is not "a branch of the government."
  
  The result is a political fault line that does not fit neatly into Iran's usual hardliner-versus-reformist divide.
  
  Some lawmakers have been far more openly hostile to the bill. Mohammad Mehdi Shahriari, a member of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, called it "completely at odds with national interests."
  
  He said it had been drafted too hastily by inexperienced lawmakers rather than the state's own security establishment and suggested Qalibaf's presiding board was itself now "strongly opposed" to the legislation.
  
  The government of President Masud Pezeshkian has also publicly opposed the bill.
  
  Hossein Afshin, the vice president for science, technology, and the knowledge-based economy, warned the current draft could isolate Iran's academic and research community and lead to "scientific stagnation." He pointed to the risks of an accelerated brain drain and additional obstacles for Iranian scientists working or studying abroad.
  
  Conservative commentator Mohammad Mohajeri, editor of Khabar Online, made much the same point more sarcastically, writing on X that just as the government was trying to persuade Iranians living abroad to return home, parliament was giving elites, scholars, and students fresh reasons to leave.
  
  The controversy has also attracted international criticism.
  
  On September 3, the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran called for the bill to be withdrawn, warning it could further restrict fundamental freedoms and isolate Iranians from the international community. UN Special Rapporteur on Iran Mai Sato separately warned that Iranian intelligence agencies should not become "the gatekeepers of Iranian people's contact with the world."
  
  For Iran's political establishment, however, the more immediate problem may be closer to home.
  
  Few in the system appear willing to dispute that foreign infiltration is a genuine security threat. The argument is increasingly over what should follow from that threat and where the state should draw the line. Source: Oilprice.com
- 2026-09-14
  White House Weighs Defense Production Act as U.S. Refineries Maxed Out
  The White House is considering using the Defense Production Act to add U.S. refining capacity, with American refineries already running at 98% capacity and diesel prices above $6 per gallon for the first time. The proposal was discussed during President... Read more The White House is considering using the Defense Production Act to add U.S. refining capacity, with American refineries already running at 98% capacity and diesel prices above $6 per gallon for the first time.
  
  The proposal was discussed during President Donald Trump’s recent meeting with nearly a dozen U.S. refiners, according to Reuters. No decision has been made, and discussions are expected to continue.
  
  Refining executives told administration officials that federal money would produce more barrels faster if it were used to expand existing plants or improve refinery efficiency. Building an entirely new refinery would cost billions and take years.
  
  The Defense Production Act gives the president authority to provide financial assistance and direct industrial resources toward materials and capacity considered necessary for national defense.
  
  Trump laid the groundwork in April, when he issued a presidential determination declaring domestic petroleum production, refining and logistics capacity essential to national defense. The order authorized purchases, purchase commitments and financial instruments under Section 303 of the DPA to increase that capacity.
  
  U.S. refiners have little spare room today. Refinery utilization reached 98% in late August after spending three consecutive months above 95%, the longest such stretch since 2000.
  
  That output has become increasingly valuable as refinery capacity disappears elsewhere. Phillips 66 estimated last month that roughly 7 million bpd of refining capacity was offline in Asia and the Middle East, with another 1.4 million bpd unavailable in Russia.
  
  U.S. diesel inventories are now 13% below their five-year average. Diesel prices crossed $6 per gallon this week as disruptions in the Middle East and Russia squeezed global fuel supplies.
  
  One possible test is already taking shape in Texas. America First Refining plans a 168,000-bpd refinery at the Port of Brownsville, announced in March as the first new U.S. refinery in nearly 50 years. Reuters said it remains unclear whether the project could receive DPA funding. Source: Oilprice.com
- 2026-09-14
  Drone Strikes Hit Saudi Arabia’s Vital East-West Oil Pipeline
  Saudi Arabia’s critical East-West oil pipeline system was struck on Thursday, with multiple pumping stations hit in an attack that could threaten one of the kingdom’s most important crude export routes, according to CNN, citing two U.S. officials familiar... Read more Saudi Arabia’s critical East-West oil pipeline system was struck on Thursday, with multiple pumping stations hit in an attack that could threaten one of the kingdom’s most important crude export routes, according to CNN, citing two U.S. officials familiar with the matter.
  
  The confirmation comes after satellite data on Thursday pointed to unusual activity along the pipeline corridor. OilPrice.com reported that NASA FIRMS had detected multiple large fires near the East-West pipeline, while Sentinel-3 imagery appeared to show a massive plume of black smoke stretching across western Saudi Arabia.
  
  CNN now reports that an initial U.S. assessment found that pumping stations located alongside the pipeline were struck by projectiles.
  
  Satellite imagery obtained by CNN appears to show extensive fire damage at a pumping station near Al Mesba'ah, while another image from Thursday showed a fire and thick black smoke at a pumping station near Al Dhekra.
  
  One U.S. official said the attack involved drones originating from Iraq, although responsibility for the strikes has not yet been established. Saudi Aramco and the Saudi government have not publicly commented on the incident.
  
  It also remains unclear whether the East-West pipeline itself was damaged or how long repairs to the affected pumping infrastructure could take.
  
  The distinction could prove critical for oil markets. Pumping stations can potentially be repaired considerably faster than a ruptured trunk pipeline.
  
  The East-West pipeline has become one of the most strategically important pieces of oil infrastructure in the world since the outbreak of the U.S.-Iran war and the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
  
  Saudi Arabia has been rerouting roughly 5 million barrels per day through the system toward Yanbu on the Red Sea. The pipeline has a total pumping capacity of around 7 million bpd. Saudi Arabia previously restored that full capacity following attacks in April that temporarily knocked out approximately 700,000 bpd.
  
  The latest attack comes as Saudi energy infrastructure faces mounting pressure from several directions. Earlier this week, the Saudi Energy Ministry confirmed attacks on multiple energy facilities in the kingdom’s south, causing fires and temporarily disrupting operations.
  
  Saudi Arabia has also previously accused Iran-backed militias of launching drones from Iraqi territory against its oil infrastructure. In July, Riyadh said drones targeting petroleum facilities in eastern Saudi Arabia and Riyadh had originated in Iraq.
  
  With Hormuz severely disrupted and Houthi forces threatening shipping through the Red Sea, significant damage to the East-West pipeline would put Saudi Arabia’s principal alternative crude export route under unprecedented pressure. Source: Oilprice.com
- 2026-09-14
  IEA Sees 5.7 Million Bpd Oil Supply Plunge as Gulf Recovery Slips to 2027
  The IEA just took another 1.4 million barrels per day out of its 2026 global oil supply outlook, and it no longer expects normal Gulf flows to return this year, according to a new agency report released on Friday. Global oil supply is now expected... Read more The IEA just took another 1.4 million barrels per day out of its 2026 global oil supply outlook, and it no longer expects normal Gulf flows to return this year, according to a new agency report released on Friday.
  
  Global oil supply is now expected to fall by 5.7 million bpd in 2026, or roughly 6%, compared with the 4.3-million-bpd decline the agency forecast just one month ago. The delayed recovery of Middle Eastern production has pushed the return of normal Gulf supplies into 2027.
  
  Global oil stocks fell at a rate of 3.1 million bpd in August, leaving inventories at 7.8 billion barrels, their lowest since 2023. In July, the IEA had put the cumulative inventory loss since the Iran war began at 410 million barrels.
  
  Saudi Arabia accounted for a large chunk of August’s deterioration. Saudi crude supply plunged 2.3 million bpd during the month to just 6 million bpd, its lowest level in more than three decades, after attacks hit facilities and shipping routes. OPEC+ production fell 1.8 million bpd to 38.8 million bpd.
  
  The shortage is already destroying demand.
  
  The IEA now expects global oil consumption to fall by 2.5 million bpd this year, compared with the 1.6-million-bpd contraction it forecast in August. Record fuel prices are forcing consumers to use less, particularly as refinery disruptions tighten diesel and other product markets.
  
  Supply is disappearing faster.
  
  That puts the IEA nearly 2.9 million bpd away from OPEC on 2026 demand. OPEC said Thursday that it still expects global oil consumption to grow by 380,000 bpd this year.
  
  The two forecasters converge in 2027. The IEA expects demand growth of 2.6 million bpd next year, while OPEC sees 2.36 million bpd. Source: Oilprice.com
- 2026-09-14
  UAE Rethinks 5-Gigawatt AI Campus After Iran Targets US Assets in Gulf
  The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is considering significant changes to its plans to build a massive 5-gigawatt AI data center in Abu Dhabi in partnership with U.S. tech giants, after Iran started targeting American air bases and U.S.-linked critical infrastructure... Read more The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is considering significant changes to its plans to build a massive 5-gigawatt AI data center in Abu Dhabi in partnership with U.S. tech giants, after Iran started targeting American air bases and U.S.-linked critical infrastructure in the Persian Gulf, multiple sources have told Reuters.
  
  The UAE, which aims to become not only a regional but also a global leader in AI development and computing, last year planned to build the 5-GW UAE-US AI Campus in Abu Dhabi.
  
  The sprawling campus was planned to include 5 GW of capacity for AI data centers in Abu Dhabi, providing a regional platform from which U.S. hyperscalers would be able to offer latency-friendly services to nearly half of the global population living within 3,200 km (2,000 miles) of the UAE.
  
  However, the Iran war and the frequent Iranian missile and drone launches targeting U.S. assets in America’s allies in the Gulf have now prompted the UAE’s authorities to consider spreading the campus into a network of data centers across the UAE and measures to better protect critical facilities from missile and drone attacks, according to Reuters’ anonymous sources, including a U.S. official, a Western diplomat, and industry executives.
  
  G42, which leads the project, told Reuters in response to queries about changes to the original plan that “The project’s specifics are subject to continuous review in line with the security, resilience and operational standards expected of critical infrastructure at this scale.”
  
  Earlier this year, Iranian drones damaged three Amazon Web Services (AWS) facilities in the region, with direct hits on two UAE facilities and one hit on a facility in Bahrain.
  
  Following several such attacks and attempts at attacks in the Persian Gulf, the UAE began reviewing the plans for the massive AI data campus, according to Reuters’ sources. The campus was planned to be one of the biggest such facilities outside the United States, but keeping critical infrastructure out of harm’s way and reassuring investors could alter the plans.
  
  Source: Oilprice.com
- 2026-09-14
  Energy Aspects: Oil Market Has Reached an "Inflection Point"
  Crude oil prices are poised for further increases and the trending trajectory is higher, as global inventory drawdowns have accelerated and China is back to buying significantly higher crude oil volumes than in the spring, Energy Aspects founder and market... Read more Crude oil prices are poised for further increases and the trending trajectory is higher, as global inventory drawdowns have accelerated and China is back to buying significantly higher crude oil volumes than in the spring, Energy Aspects founder and market intelligence director, Amrita Sen, told CNBC on Friday.
  
  The intensified shipping risks in the Middle East with tanker attacks in the Strait of Hormuz and the Houthi threat in the Red Sea are hampering crude oil supply to Asian refiners. If Hormuz cancellations and delays persist, the only option for Asian refiners is to reduce runs, Sen said.
  
  Following an uptick in Strait of Hormuz oil flows in August, shippers are now cautious again amid the re-escalation of hostilities, the oil market expert told CNBC.
  
  The oil market has reached the “inflection point” and is heading for an “upward spiral” between crude and products, Sen noted.
  
  Earlier this week, Sen told Bloomberg in an interview that China is estimated to import about 10 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude this month. The expected volume in September would be about 3 million bpd higher than in June, when China’s crude oil imports slumped to below 7 million bpd to a decade-low.
  
  The return of China to crude buying and the accelerating inventory drawdowns are also pushing crude oil prices higher, apart from the headlines and U.S. and Iran rhetoric.
  
  In the past two weeks alone, a total of 120 million barrels of oil were drawn down from inventories globally, Sen told Bloomberg.
  
  All these factors are driving crude oil prices toward a “significant leg higher,” the market expert said on Wednesday, the day on which oil prices jumped above $100 per barrel for the first time since July.
  
  Oil prices were on track early on Friday to end a trading week above the $100 a barrel mark for the first time since May. Source: Oilprice.com

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