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MABUX ARA LNG Bunker Index
Port LNG$/mton MGO LS$/mton Date
ARA
1 289.00
0.00
1 200.00
-45.00
Aug 25
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Port	LNG$/mton	MGO LS$/mton	Date
ARA	1 289.00	0.00	1 200.00	-45.00	Aug 25

MABUX Global Bunker Index

380HSFO$/mton		VLS FO$/mton		MGO LS$/mton		Date
610.24	-6.11	759.85	-9.20	1 327.77	-15.79	Aug 27

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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	526	620	-94	650	693	-43	1 200	1 392	-192	Aug 27
Singapore	625	642	-17	768	783	-15	1 115	1 385	-270	Aug 27
Fujairah	608	592	+16	780	725	+55	1 371	1 448	-77	Aug 27
Houston	457	614	-157	675	711	-36	1 230	1 352	-122	Aug 27

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Latest News
- 2026-08-28
  Oil on track for weekly loss even as Iran tensions simmer
  Oil prices fell on Friday and are on track to snap a two-week winning streak, despite settling higher in the previous session following a report that U.S. President Donald Trump is not interested in returning to previous deal terms with Iran. Brent... Read more Oil prices fell on Friday and are on track to snap a two-week winning streak, despite settling higher in the previous session following a report that U.S. President Donald Trump is not interested in returning to previous deal terms with Iran.
  
  Brent crude futures were down 25 cents, or 0.3%, to $89.45 a barrel by 0035 GMT. West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell 22 cents, also 0.3%, to $83.31.
  
  Both benchmarks were poised to end the week lower, with Brent down 5.3% and WTI falling 4.3%.
  
  Citing people familiar with the matter, the Wall Street Journal report said the Trump administration has repeatedly told mediators it has no interest in reviving the June memorandum of understanding, complicating diplomatic efforts to restart talks.
  
  Earlier on Thursday, Washington said it was not in talks with Iran despite diplomatic efforts by other countries to re-engage the two sides.
  
  On Monday, the U.S. announced what it called the "toughest sanctions in history" on Iran. Tehran said the sanctions were an "inhumane and hostile act" that had lost their effectiveness.
  
  Elsewhere, geopolitical tensions escalated after Moscow warned it could strike British military targets inside and outside Ukraine in response to Kyiv’s attacks on Russian territory using British-supplied long-range cruise missiles.
  
  Trump, however, said Russian President Vladimir Putin will not attack a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) country, and he downplayed media reports that CIA Director John Ratcliffe this week had warned Russian officials against such an attack. Britain is one of the founding members of NATO. Source: Reuters/Investing.com
- 2026-08-28
  Analysis-After six months, the Iran war has reached its endgame - a costly stalemate
  The Iran war has reached its endgame: a costly stalemate. Six months after U.S. and Israeli forces attacked Iran, killing its supreme leader and maiming his son and successor, the Iranian government is under economic siege, but it still holds power... Read more The Iran war has reached its endgame: a costly stalemate.
  
  Six months after U.S. and Israeli forces attacked Iran, killing its supreme leader and maiming his son and successor, the Iranian government is under economic siege, but it still holds power and believes it has time on its side.
  
  A threat by U.S. President Donald Trump to impose crippling new sanctions on Iran faces a fundamental problem: Tehran is betting he will not take the final step to break the stalemate - aggressively enforcing secondary sanctions on the countries keeping its economy afloat, foremost among them China and India.
  
  Washington’s latest measures, announced on Monday, mark a new phase in the conflict that began on February 28, shifting the battlefield from missiles and airstrikes to Iran’s oil revenues, banks and trading partners.
  
  Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said the United States will cut off the financial lifelines sustaining Iran’s economy, while a U.S.-led naval blockade restricts Tehran’s oil exports and access to hard currency.
  
  "The (Trump) administration is groping in a sort of desperate fashion to try to find a pathway out of this,” said Aaron David Miller, a former U.S. diplomat and senior fellow at Carnegie Endowment.
  
  Bessent invoked the 1944 D-Day landings in France during World War Two when he unveiled the sanctions, but Miller said: "To me, this isn’t D-Day. It’s Desperation Day. I don’t think the administration is any closer to finding a way out of this.”
  
  Michael Knights, head of research at Horizon Engage, a New York-based strategic advisory, said the blockade may prove more consequential than the sanctions themselves because Iran’s immediate challenge was no longer how to survive economic pressure but how to break out of it.
  
  Tehran has spent decades adapting to sanctions and endured previous "maximum pressure" campaigns without altering its behaviour, he said. Mounting economic pressure, he said, may increase Iran’s incentive to raise the cost of the confrontation for its adversaries by pressuring Gulf states, particularly Saudi Arabia, to push Washington towards a diplomatic off-ramp.
  
  Knights said Iran could increasingly adopt the model used by its Houthi allies in the Red Sea: periodic attacks, intermittent negotiations and a prolonged campaign of disruption short of all-out war, potentially targeting shipping, ports, energy infrastructure or other critical assets to make the conflict increasingly costly for Gulf states to tolerate.
  
  Washington rejects that assessment and says the balance of power is in its favour.
  
  "The Iranian economy is in free fall and the regime’s military has been decimated," U.S. State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said in response to questions for this article. “President Trump holds all the cards, and we are cutting off every financial lifeline the regime has remaining.”
  
  IRANIAN OFFICIALS DISMISS US STRATEGY
  
  Alan Eyre, a former U.S. diplomat who worked on Iran, questioned whether Washington has the international support and bureaucratic machinery to make the sanctions stick.
  
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  He said that unlike the multilateral campaign preceding the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and major powers, which curbed Iran’s nuclear programme in exchange for lifting sanctions, the latest measures rely on public threats rather than sustained diplomacy with allies and trading partners.
  
  Iranian officials dismiss the U.S. strategy as a replay of a playbook that has already failed. One senior Iranian official told Reuters that countries such as China would not stop cooperating with Iran simply to serve U.S. interests.
  
  Some political analysts say the strategy faces a deeper flaw: from North Korea to Russia and Iran itself, sanctions have rarely forced governments to abandon goals they view as existential for their survival.
  
  The senior Iranian official said Tehran believes Washington’s broader objective is to fuel domestic discontent in the hope that economic hardship could eventually translate into political unrest, but that the "maximum pressure" campaign failed during Trump’s first term and would fail again.
  
  "If the pressure increases, Iran’s approach will change too," he said, adding that Gulf Arab governments understood that squeezing Tehran further could put them at greater risk as well.
  
  THREAT OF UNREST FOR IRAN’S LEADERS
  
  For Iran’s rulers, the biggest threat may not be economic pain itself. It may be the risk that worsening hardship again spills into mass unrest, according to insiders and an Iranian official.
  
  Annual inflation reached 66% in July, while consumer prices were 87.9% higher than a year earlier, according to Iran’s Statistical Centre. Food prices rose 128% year on year.
  
  President Masoud Pezeshkian acknowledged the severity of the squeeze last week, saying: “Our problems have multiplied several times over, while our income has also fallen.”
  
  Economic grievances have repeatedly erupted into nationwide protests in recent years. In January, demonstrations over economic hardship were crushed by the Revolutionary Guards and the Basij militia, with thousands killed.
  
  The appointment this month of Hossein Taeb, a key architect of previous crackdowns, to lead the Basij was one of the clearest signs yet of official concern about renewed unrest, a former reformist official said. The Basij, a paramilitary force affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards, has repeatedly been deployed by Iran’s clerical rulers to suppress protests.
  
  That points to a paradox at the heart of Washington’s strategy: sanctions may deepen Iran’s economic damage without forcing its rulers to change course. The leadership has historically answered domestic unrest with repression, and external pressure with threats of retaliation abroad.
  
  ’DANGEROUS IMPASSE’
  
  For the Gulf states, the calculation is especially fraught.
  
  They prefer economic and diplomatic pressure to another round of war, but fear an outcome that enables Iran to declare victory while retaining the ability to disrupt traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital global oil supply route that Tehran has effectively blocked, pushing up global oil prices.
  
  Abdulaziz Sager, chairman of the Saudi-based Gulf Research Center, said Gulf governments are unconvinced that sanctions alone can rapidly alter Iran’s behaviour, given the leadership’s resilience and ability to maintain internal control.
  
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  Significant political change, or the collapse of Iran’s theocratic leadership, he said, is unlikely to come quickly.
  
  The result is a dangerous impasse if mediated talks fail to produce a breakthrough.
  
  Washington wants Iran to abandon its leverage over Hormuz without conceding Tehran a role in managing the waterway, Iran wants the U.S. naval blockade lifted without appearing to surrender, and Gulf states want the conflict contained without letting Iran emerge as the victor. Source: Reuters/Investing.com
- 2026-08-28
  Europe Heads Into Winter With Gas Storage at a Two-Decade Low
  Europe is heading for the winter with one of the lowest levels of gas in storage in the past two decades as the war in the Middle East crippled LNG supply from Qatar, sent gas and LNG prices in Europe and Asia skyrocketing, and intensified competition... Read more Europe is heading for the winter with one of the lowest levels of gas in storage in the past two decades as the war in the Middle East crippled LNG supply from Qatar, sent gas and LNG prices in Europe and Asia skyrocketing, and intensified competition for the shrunk pool of readily available global LNG cargoes.
  
  A perfect storm of elevated demand for filling depleted storage and electricity during the summer heatwaves, and slashed global LNG supply with Qatar’s cargoes trapped behind the Strait of Hormuz have pushed European benchmark prices to multi-month highs and LNG prices to the highest in three years.
  
  The high prices, with front-month futures higher than those further out in time, have discouraged stockpiling for most of the summer. But Europe doesn’t have a choice and needs to fight for gas to fill storage sites to reasonably adequate levels before December to avoid a winter supply crunch.
  
  That’s easier said than done. Competition from Asia is fierce for LNG supply that doesn’t need to move through the Strait of Hormuz, and Europe is currently losing this race.
  
  One potentially mitigating factor is that Europe now consumes about 10-15% less natural gas than it did in 2021 due to a higher share of renewables for electricity generation and industries adapting from an abundance of gas (including from Russia) to tight markets with elevated prices.
  
  EU Gas in Storage Lowest in Years
  
  Early this year, European policymakers and gas network operators knew they needed to step up spring and summer purchases to fill storage sites that were depleting fast in the cold 2025/2026 winter.
  
  But the war in Iran and the near-disappearance of Qatari LNG supply was such a black swan event that no one could have predicted.
  
  Thus, Europe was left scrambling for supply amid high prices and intense competition for spot LNG supply from Asia, which itself is also seeking alternatives to the term Qatari supply that never arrived in the past six months.
  
  The Iran war and the intensified competition from Asia came just as Europe is trying to build in the spring and summer natural gas inventories for the next winter.
  
  Current storage levels are about 63% full, data from Gas Infrastructure Europe shows. That’s the lowest level for this time of year in nearly two decades and well below the five-year average.
  
  Europe risks missing its target for gas storage ahead of the winter, with the Netherlands becoming the first EU member state to warn it would miss its target.
  
  This doesn’t mean that security of supply is at immediate risk. But the current predicament suggests that Europe will once again hope for a milder winter as it has done in the past four years.
  
  High Gas Prices, Higher Energy Bills
  
  The LNG squeeze and the uncertainty about supply prospects have had a direct and rather painful effect on gas prices.
  
  The European benchmark natural gas prices in Europe at the Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TTF) surged this month to the highest since 2023, and so did the LNG prices in northwest Europe, as gas supply was much more affected than oil flows at the mostly closed Strait of Hormuz.
  
  These high prices could go even higher as winter approaches, and Europe still struggles to build up sufficient inventories.
  
  There is a very real chance that Europe won’t achieve even its softest flexible target to have storage 75% full on November 1, analysts say.
  
  “At the current rate, it will be difficult for the EU to hit even the lower storage target of 75% ahead of the heating season. This raises the prospects of forced buying, increasing upside risk for gas prices,” ING’s commodities strategists Warren Patterson and Ewa Manthey wrote in a note this week.
  
  Although it’s not 2022 and prices are nowhere near the record highs from four years ago, “Europe is approaching energy crisis territory,” analysts at Wood Mackenzie said at the end of July.
  
  Spot prices have jumped by 50% since mid-June when the now-dead U.S.-Iran ‘deal to make a deal’ was announced, as gas has proven more sensitive to the Hormuz crisis than oil, they added.
  
  The high gas prices have started to feed through consumer energy bills in Europe. Some countries will see several months of lag due to the various specificities in their energy markets, but others, including the UK, will feel the pinch almost immediately.
  
  UK energy bills are now set for a three-year high at the beginning of the winter, as higher gas prices due to the Iran war have prompted the energy regulator to raise the energy price cap on household costs by 4% for October through December.
  
  Unless LNG starts flowing out of the Strait of Hormuz very soon, Europe faces a winter with the highest prices for gas and electricity in four years, with even higher gas needs next year for the next winter.
  
  “Whichever pathway the Iran conflict takes, it now looks likely that European reliance on just-in-time LNG will be higher this winter – and the storage refill requirement an even steeper mountain to climb in summer 2027,” Bill Farren-Price, Distinguished Research Fellow at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, wrote in an analysis in July. Source: Oilprice.com
- 2026-08-28
  MABUX: Global bunker market to shift into the phase of irregular fluctuations on Aug. 28 on hopes that Mideast diplomacy could e
  The MABUX World Bunker Index — a composite benchmark reflecting daily prices for 380 HSFO, VLSFO, and MGO – extended its downward trend on Aug. 27 for the fourth consecutive session: 380 HSFO: USD/MT: 610.24 (-6.11) VLSFO: USD/MT: 759.85 (-9.20) MGO:... Read more The MABUX World Bunker Index — a composite benchmark reflecting daily prices for 380 HSFO, VLSFO, and MGO – extended its downward trend on Aug. 27 for the fourth consecutive session:
  
  380 HSFO: USD/MT: 610.24 (-6.11)
  VLSFO: USD/MT: 759.85 (-9.20)
  MGO: USD/MT: 1 327.77 (-15.79)
  
  As of Aug. 27, the MABUX Market Differential Index (MDI), which monitors 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: Fujairah remained the only overvalued port, although its premium narrowed by $22. The other three hubs stayed in the undervaluation zone, with MDI discounts widening by $5 in Rotterdam, $15 in Singapore and $14 in Houston. Houston's underpricing remained above the $100 mark.
  
  • VLSFO segment: Singapore returned to the undervaluation zone, joining Rotterdam and Houston. The MDI discount narrowed by $1 in Rotterdam but widened by $25 in Singapore and $14 in Houston. Fujairah remained the only overvalued port in this bunker segment, with its premium declining by $8.
  
  • MGO LS segment: All four ports were undercharged. MDI discounts increased by $42 in Rotterdam, $78 in Singapore, $17 in Fujairah, and $27 in Houston. Houston exceeded the $100 mark, while underpricing in Rotterdam and Singapore remained above it.
  
  MABUX expects the Global bunker market to shift into the phase of irregular fluctuations on Aug. 28, as hopes that Middle East diplomatic efforts could ease supply constraints add uncertainty to short-term price direction: 380 HSFO: plus-minus 2-5 USD/MT, VLSFO: plus-minus 3-8 USD/MT, MGO LS: plus-minus 5–10 USD/MT.
  Source: MABUX
- 2026-08-28
  Venezuela’s Oil Revival Gains Momentum
  The United States’ plans to revitalize Venezuela’s oil sector are moving at a snail’s pace. But it seems that plans are finally falling into place, with two different U.S. companies – SLB and Hunt Oil – announcing deals with the Venezuelan state oil company... Read more The United States’ plans to revitalize Venezuela’s oil sector are moving at a snail’s pace. But it seems that plans are finally falling into place, with two different U.S. companies – SLB and Hunt Oil – announcing deals with the Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA last week. Reports indicate that deal announcements will continue to accelerate in the coming weeks as international oil companies eagerly seek to get a piece of the planet’s largest proven oil reserves.
  
  “Oilfield service provider SLB will provide AI software to facilitate drilling, and said it is working to import oil rigs into the country,” Semafor reported last week on the newly inked deals. “And Texas producer Hunt Oil became one of the first to sign a production agreement with state-owned PDVSA.”
  
  While Venezuela is home to approximately 17 percent of the world’s oil, with an estimated 303 billion barrels, it is responsible for just one percent of the world’s oil supply after decades of underinvestment, mismanagement, and sanctions. Ramping up production in Venezuela would therefore stand to change the entire world’s energy landscape. This is especially attractive to world leaders against the backdrop of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which previously saw the flow of about one-fifth of the world’s oil and gas trade on a typical day.
  
  Venezuelan oil assets became available to outside interests when the Trump administration captured and incarcerated former President Nicolás Maduro in a January raid. But then progress slowed to a crawl in the intervening months as negotiations stalled and the country faced back-to-back earthquakes that devastated the already struggling population. But last month, the oil industry transformation began to pick up pace again when interim president Delcy Rodríguez unveiled new regulations that gave more favorable fiscal terms to foreign oil companies.
  
  While Venezuela’s abundance of oil is enormously attractive to outside investors, and could provide a critical buffer to the United States in the midst of a global oil shortage, operations in the nation are difficult and unpredictable. Two devastating earthquakes, a shaky political body, crumbling infrastructure and frequent blackouts, and limited capacity and oversight all make doing business in Venezuela a risky venture.
  
  For these reasons, most of the companies expected to ink deals with PDVSA are smaller independents, with supermajors hanging back to see how things shake out in the politically volatile South American country. “While the supermajors bide their time until they see how the politics sort out, and whether they can cherry-pick the best assets, independents can derisk their projects in a short period of time,” David Goldwyn, head of the international energy consulting firm Goldwyn Global Strategies, recently told Politico.
  
  As a result, the contracts that are finally being inked, while promising, are much smaller than the Trump administration would like. The deals under development will likely only increase the country’s oil production by 300,000 barrels a day over the next year, though officials in Caracas and Washington had previously talked a big game about an increase in the millions of barrels. “Incremental production is all we will see until the framework improves, electricity is restored, and the political picture becomes clearer,” Goldwyn said.
  
  However, the flow of oil from Venezuela to the United States is already considerable, with about half of the country’s oil output headed for U.S. refineries. According to Under Secretary of Energy Kyle Haustveit, more than 500,000 barrels per day are now moving from Venezuela to the US. While this is not the volume that Washington had hoped for, it’s a massive share of Venezuela’s total output of about 1.25 million barrels per day. Source: Oilprice.com
- 2026-08-28
  Strait of Hormuz Traffic Ticks Higher Amid New Diplomatic Push
  Commodity vessel traffic at the Strait of Hormuz rose slightly over the past 24 hours amid diplomatic efforts to discuss temporary corridors or tentative reopening of the Middle East’s most vital oil and gas chokepoint. Ten commodity vessels made the... Read more Commodity vessel traffic at the Strait of Hormuz rose slightly over the past 24 hours amid diplomatic efforts to discuss temporary corridors or tentative reopening of the Middle East’s most vital oil and gas chokepoint.
  
  Ten commodity vessels made the Strait of Hormuz transit on Wednesday, up from 8 on Tuesday, according to Kpler data as of Thursday morning, cited by Reuters.
  
  Despite the slight uptick in visible Hormuz crossings in recent hours, the Wednesday tally still lags the 10-day average of 15 vessels moving through the Strait in either direction.
  
  Of the Wednesday traffic, two fuel tankers, a carrier of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), a Panamax oil tanker, and three handymax-sized tankers moved into the Persian Gulf via the Strait of Hormuz. Three vessels, including a fuel tanker, a bitumen tanker, and a bulk carrier, moved outbound from the Persian Gulf into the Gulf of Oman, according to Kpler’s data.
  
  While traffic at Hormuz rose slightly, transits at the Bab el-Mandeb Strait on the Red Sea fell to 19 ships from 24 vessels on the previous day.
  
  The situation in the region remains tense and constantly changing, amid another attack on a vessel and hopes that Oman and Qatar could reason with Iran about shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
  
  In recent hours, yet another tanker has been struck by a projectile in the Strait of Hormuz, in a sign that tanker transits remain a high-risk endeavor in the area.
  
  At the same time, Qatar’s Prime Minister is visiting Tehran today to discuss the possibility of reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
  
  No details about the visit by Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani to Tehran were made public besides a statement from Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei that said the discussions would focus on Qatar’s continued role as a mediator between the warring parties and the latest developments in and around Hormuz.
  
  Oil prices fell early on Thursday as the market hopes, yet again, that there could be some diplomatic breakthrough that could ease the six-month-long Hormuz crisis. Source: Oilprice.com
- 2026-08-28
  U.S. In Talks To Take Direct Ownership Of Venezuelan Oil Fields
  The Trump administration is reportedly in active discussions with Venezuela’s interim government to acquire a direct U.S. ownership stake in key Venezuelan oil fields. According to senior U.S. officials cited by Axios, the talks involve equity stakes... Read more The Trump administration is reportedly in active discussions with Venezuela’s interim government to acquire a direct U.S. ownership stake in key Venezuelan oil fields. According to senior U.S. officials cited by Axios, the talks involve equity stakes in a select group of high-yield fields containing approximately 90 billion barrels of proven crude—a transaction that would significantly alter Washington’s foreign energy policy framework and expand U.S.-controlled global reserves.
  
  The targeted fields represent a strategic slice of Venezuela’s broader 303-billion-barrel reserve base, the largest in the world. The assets in question were previously operated by Venezuelan state interests, joint-venture partners, and Chinese state-backed entities.
  
  If finalized, the arrangement would mark a structural evolution in the White House’s "Energy Dominance" paradigm. Initially focused on domestic deregulation, pipeline expansions, and maximizing shale output, the strategy is shifting toward direct equity acquisition and resource control within the Western Hemisphere.
  
  A $180 Billion Commitment
  
  The White House’s push for direct equity in Venezuelan oil assets comes at a particularly opportune moment, as supply disruptions, elevated energy prices and broader macroeconomic pressures increase the strategic value of Venezuela’s vast reserves. With the U.S. SPR depleted to historic lows and transit routes in the Middle East under ongoing threat, direct physical control over Western Hemisphere heavy crude offers a strategic hedge.
  
  Converting those paper reserves into physical liquidity, however, faces severe friction. Legacy underinvestment under PDVSA has left the nation's midstream and downstream assets heavily degraded. Even with U.S. capital moving in, companies face a number of operational challenges to produce beyond the current 1.25 million bpd. Energy analysts at Rystad Energy have pointed out that meaningful improvement of nameplate production capacity will require an investment of around $180 billion through the next decade. Even if Caracas were looking to keep current production levels flat, total capex would have to amount to more than $50 billion over the next 15 years.
  
  Majors Hesitate as Independent Drillers Target Quick Wins
  
  While supermajors such as ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips maintain a cautious stance due to historical expropriations and legal ambiguities, independent operators and oilfield service providers are already moving to secure short-term opportunities.
  
  Companies including SLB and Hunt Oil recently inked initial exploration and service agreements with state oil company PDVSA. Additional independent operators, such as California-based Pacific Coast Energy Company, are finalizing agreements to operate mature heavy-oil fields.
  
  Under the framework currently under negotiation, private international firms would handle field development and operational logistics, with a portion of revenues returned to Caracas. According to Axios, Energy Secretary Chris Wright is scheduled to meet with officials in Caracas next week to discuss logistics for accelerating field rehabilitation. However, analysts maintain that short-term production gains will likely remain incremental until broader infrastructure and legal frameworks are stabilized. Source: Oilprice.com
- 2026-08-28
  Trump Sends Saudi Nuclear Deal to Congress as Riyadh Rejects Israel Condition
  Trump has formally sent the landmark U.S.-Saudi civilian nuclear agreement to Congress, even as Riyadh reiterated Thursday that it will not normalize relations with Israel without an independent Palestinian state, a condition Trump says must be met before... Read more Trump has formally sent the landmark U.S.-Saudi civilian nuclear agreement to Congress, even as Riyadh reiterated Thursday that it will not normalize relations with Israel without an independent Palestinian state, a condition Trump says must be met before the nuclear deal can take effect.
  
  The submission starts a 90-legislative-day congressional review of the 30-year agreement, which would allow U.S. companies to export civilian nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia. Congress can reject the agreement during that period; Trump could veto a resolution of disapproval, requiring two-thirds majorities in both chambers to override him.
  
  Riyadh has long made Palestinian statehood a prerequisite for diplomatic relations with Israel. A Saudi-Israeli agreement appeared increasingly possible in 2023 before the October 7 Hamas attack and the Gaza war derailed negotiations.
  
  The nuclear pact would give U.S. companies access to Saudi Arabia’s planned civilian nuclear buildout, and leaves open the possibility of uranium enrichment inside the Kingdom under U.S. oversight.
  
  Under the proposed deal, Washington and Riyadh would have two years to determine whether domestic enrichment is warranted and commercially viable.
  
  That provision is quite different from Washington’s 2009 nuclear agreement with the UAE, which prohibits domestic uranium enrichment and plutonium reprocessing. Under the Saudi agreement, any enrichment facilities approved after the two-year assessment would be built by U.S. companies under a “black box” arrangement, allowing Saudi enrichment under American oversight without transferring the underlying technology.
  
  Saudi Arabia has refused to surrender the enrichment option, while Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) has previously said the kingdom would pursue a nuclear weapon if Iran acquired one.
  
  Riyadh wants nuclear generation to reduce the oil and gas consumed by its domestic power system and preserve more hydrocarbons for export. For Washington, the agreement would put U.S. companies in a position to build Saudi Arabia’s nuclear fleet rather than leave the market to competing Chinese or Russian technology. Source: Oilprice.com
- 2026-08-28
  45 Power Plants in India Running on Critically Low Levels of Coal Stocks
  As many as 45 coal-fired power plants in India are currently operating with critically low levels of coal stocks, as electricity demand rises amid the strong El Nino but supply is disrupted by monsoon rains, Reuters reported on Thursday, citing government... Read more As many as 45 coal-fired power plants in India are currently operating with critically low levels of coal stocks, as electricity demand rises amid the strong El Nino but supply is disrupted by monsoon rains, Reuters reported on Thursday, citing government data and industry officials.
  
  These 45 coal power plants are operating with inventories below 25% of their required levels or with stocks insufficient for three consecutive days of power generation, per data from the Central Electricity Authority cited by Reuters. The number of plants with low coal stocks surged to 45 from 31 at the end of July.
  
  Monsoon-related disruptions to domestic supply have tightened the immediate availability and transportation of coal from the coal-rich producing states to the coal-fired power plants.
  
  As a result, domestic coal prices in India rose this week, commodity consultancy BigMint said on Wednesday.
  
  “India's thermal power plants drew down coal inventories sharply during the first 23 days of August as coal consumption continued to outpace supplies,” BigMint said in a separate analysis on Wednesday.
  
  Stocks at India’s power plants declined by 15.5% between August 1 and 23, as receipts of coal deliveries lagged the rate of coal burns, the consultancy added.
  
  The monsoon season in India has been disrupted by El Nino, with hotter-than-usual temperatures driving up power demand.
  
  “The uneven monsoon has driven power demand, primarily for air-conditioning. But coal supplies are running hand-to-mouth,” an anonymous official at NTPC, India’s biggest thermal power producer, told Reuters.
  
  “There is a need for five to six rakes at some plants, but we are receiving only half that number,” the executive said.
  
  The higher coal demand for cooling is boosting India’s reliance on thermal coal plants, and some of these have been asked by the power ministry to delay planned maintenance until the supply issues are resolved, a senior official at the ministry told Reuters. Source: Oilprice.com
- 2026-08-28
  Trump Complained About Big Oil Profits, But Dumped Exxon Stock on Ceasefire Day
  President Donald Trump’s investment accounts sold between $500,000 and $1 million of ExxonMobil stock on April 7, the same day Trump announced a ceasefire in the Iran war and hours before Exxon shares opened 6.5% lower, according to financial disclosures... Read more President Donald Trump’s investment accounts sold between $500,000 and $1 million of ExxonMobil stock on April 7, the same day Trump announced a ceasefire in the Iran war and hours before Exxon shares opened 6.5% lower, according to financial disclosures reviewed by CBS News.
  
  Exxon closed at $163.91 on April 7 before Trump announced the ceasefire that evening and opened at $153.52 the following morning. The transaction was one of hundreds of thousands of dollars in purchases and sales involving Exxon, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and other oil and gas companies during the first half of 2026, according to filings with the Office of Government Ethics as reported by CBS News.
  
  Those trades continued through a war that sent oil prices sharply higher and delivered some of the strongest earnings for U.S. oil majors since 2022. ExxonMobil and Chevron ultimately earned a combined $26.5 billion in the second quarter as the Iran war and disruption to oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz drove crude prices and refining margins sharply higher. Exxon reported $14.5 billion in net income, more than double its year-earlier profit and its best result in four years, while Chevron reported record net income of $12.2 billion, nearly five times its year-earlier result. Trump subsequently accused the companies of making “too much money” and demanded that they cut fuel prices.
  
  CBS reported that Trump’s accounts executed roughly 3,600 stock and securities trades worth between $212 million and $695 million during the first quarter alone. Democrats on the Joint Economic Committee estimate that his oil and gas holdings increased in value from between $13 million and $46 million at the start of the year to between $17 million and $61 million by mid-August. The estimate does not include trades made during 2026.
  
  The White House said Trump does not direct the trades. Spokesman Davis Ingle told CBS that the portfolio is managed independently by third-party financial institutions using computer-based model portfolios and that Trump and his family cannot influence when securities are bought or sold.
  
  Trump has not placed his assets in a blind trust, and federal law does not prohibit presidents from owning or trading individual stocks. His energy holdings remain a small portion of a fortune Forbes estimates at more than $6 billion. Source: Oilprice.com

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