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MABUX ARA LNG Bunker Index
Port LNG$/mton MGO LS$/mton Date
ARA
1 016.00
+49.00
1 224.00
+5.00
May 5
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Port	LNG$/mton	MGO LS$/mton	Date
ARA	1 016.00	+49.00	1 224.00	+5.00	May 5

MABUX Global Bunker Index

380HSFO$/mton		VLS FO$/mton		MGO LS$/mton		Date
771.70	+1.64	927.92	+4.19	1 386.89	+4.47	May 8

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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	674	701	-27	790	779	+11	1 224	1 282	-58	May 8
Singapore	713	728	-15	820	868	-48	1 184	1 275	-91	May 8
Fujairah	710	676	+34	895	837	+58	1 492	1 338	+154	May 8
Houston	695	704	-9	845	821	+24	1 163	1 216	-53	May 8

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Latest News
- 2026-05-08
  Global bunker market is expected to resume upward movement on May 08 amid renewed escalation in Iran-US tensions and growing con
  The MABUX World Bunker Index — a composite benchmark reflecting daily prices for 380 HSFO, VLSFO, and MGO — maintained a firm downward trajectory on May 07 for the second consecutive session: 380 HSFO: USD/MT: 770.06 (-12.76) VLSFO: USD/MT 923.73... Read more The MABUX World Bunker Index — a composite benchmark reflecting daily prices for 380 HSFO, VLSFO, and MGO — maintained a firm downward trajectory on May 07 for the second consecutive session:
  
  380 HSFO: USD/MT: 770.06 (-12.76)
  VLSFO: USD/MT 923.73 (-15.72)
  MGO: USD/MT 1 382.42 (-28.15)
  
  As of May 07, the MABUX Market Differential Index (MDI). which monitors the spread between Market Bunker Prices (MBP) and the MABUX Digital Bunker Benchmark (DBP), registered the following trends across the four major global bunkering hubs: Rotterdam, Singapore, Fujairah, and Houston:
  
  • HSFO segment: Fujairah moved into the overcharge zone, with the premium widening by $58. The remaining three ports continued to be undercharged, although discounts narrowed by $52 in Rotterdam, $68 in Singapore, and $43 in Houston. All MDI indicators continued moving toward the 100% correlation mark, signaling gradual market stabilization.
  
  • VLSFO segment: Houston shifted into the overcharge zone alongside Fujairah, with overpricing margins increasing by $32 in Fujairah and $45 in Houston. Rotterdam and Singapore remained undercharged, with discounts narrowing by $47 and $57, respectively. Singapore’s MDI fell below the $100 threshold, while Rotterdam approached full correlation between MBP and DBP.
  
  • MGO LS segment: Rotterdam, Singapore, and Houston remained undercharged, with underpricing levels narrowing by $106, $82, and $65, respectively. Fujairah continued to be the only overcharged port, with its premium increasing by $87 and exceeding the $100 mark. MDI values in Rotterdam and Singapore also remained above the $100 level, while Houston dropped below this threshold.
  
  Global bunker market is expected to resume upward movement on May 08 amid renewed escalation in Iran-US tensions and growing concerns over potential supply disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz: 380 HSFO: plus 2-7 USD/MT, VLSFO: plus 2–8 USD/MT, MGO LS: plus 5–12 USD/MT.
  Source: MABUX
- 2026-05-08
  Oil prices jump on renewed US-Iran hostilities
  Oil prices were up more than 1% on Friday after renewed fighting broke out between the U.S. and Iran, threatening a shaky ceasefire and dashing hopes for progress on reopening the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil and gas transit route. Brent crude futures... Read more Oil prices were up more than 1% on Friday after renewed fighting broke out between the U.S. and Iran, threatening a shaky ceasefire and dashing hopes for progress on reopening the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil and gas transit route.
  Brent crude futures were up $1.41, or 1.41%, at $101.47 a barrel as of 0123 GMT. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) U.S. crude futures rose by $1.12, or 1.18%, to $95.93 a barrel. At the market open prices had risen by more than 3%.
  That snapped three days of declines on reports earlier this week the U.S. and Iran were close to agreeing to a deal that would end the fighting and allow the Strait of Hormuz to fully reopen but put off larger issues around Iran’s nuclear programme.
  For the week, both contracts are set to fall about 6%.
  Friday’s jump in prices followed Iran’s accusations the U.S. violated the month-long ceasefire between them, while the U.S. said its attacks were retaliatory strikes following Iranian fire on Thursday on its navy ships transiting through the strait.
  Iran’s military said the U.S. had targeted an Iranian oil tanker and another ship and civilian areas in the strait and on the mainland.
  Despite the renewed combat, U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters later on Thursday the ceasefire was still in effect.
  The exchange of fire happened as Washington awaited Iran’s response to the latest peace proposal, which did not address a number of contentious issues including the U.S. demand to reopen the strait, a conduit for one-fifth of the world’s oil and gas supply before the war that has been mostly shut since the conflict, which also included strikes by Israel, began on February 28.
  
  "On the supply front, the picture remains tight," IG analyst Tony Sycamore said in a note, while saying a peace deal remains elusive.
  Separately, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission is investigating oil price trades totalling $7 billion ahead of key Iran war-related announcements by President Trump, Reuters reported on Thursday.
  Most of the trades involved short positions, or bets on prices falling, placed on the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) and Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) before Trump’s statements to delay attacks or announce a ceasefire that led to prices falling.
  Source: Reuters/Investing.com
- 2026-05-08
  Venezuela Lands Billions in Oil Deals as Industry Rushes Back
  International companies are flocking back to Venezuela, with deals worth billions getting closed under U.S. management of the country’s oil resources. Venezuela’s oil exports hit a seven-year high in March, and this may be just the beginning of a major... Read more International companies are flocking back to Venezuela, with deals worth billions getting closed under U.S. management of the country’s oil resources. Venezuela’s oil exports hit a seven-year high in March, and this may be just the beginning of a major rebound.
  
  Big Oil was quick to signal interest in Venezuela’s oil—and natural gas—almost as soon as the United States ousted President Nicolas Maduro and effectively took over Venezuela’s oil industry. As early as January, Shell and BP were reported to seek a license to move forward with gas projects in Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago.
  
  For Shell, the main project of interest was Dragon, an offshore field that contains an estimated 4.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas that Shell plans to eventually liquefy and export from its Atlantic LNG facility in Trinidad and Tobago. BP, meanwhile, last week signed a deal with PDVSA to develop the Cocuina-Manakin field that lies along the maritime border between Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago. The supermajor and the Venezuelan state energy company will also explore together for gas in the Loran gas field.
  
  The Loran-Manatee deposit is shared by Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago, with 7.3 trillion cubic feet of gas in the Venezuelan portion and 2.7 trillion cubic feet in the Trinidad portion. The Cocuina-Manakin field contains an estimated 1 trillion cubic feet in reserves.
  
  Spain’s Repsol is also returning to Venezuela after it signed a new deal with the country’s government, with plans to increase crude oil production in the country by 50% from current levels. Per media reports from April, the Spanish major secured licenses to return to Venezuela from the U.S. administration and agreed deals with U.S. energy companies to restore production, which currently averages some 45,000 barrels daily. Over the next three years, Repsol plans to triple that.
  
  Italy’s Eni is also joining the Venezuelan oil party. Last month, the company’s chief executive, Claudio Descalzi, visited Caracas and met with President Delcy Rodriguez. Descalzi also signed a deal with PDVSA and the Venezuelan oil ministry for the joint development of a heavy crude field with PDVSA.
  
  Junin-5 is located in the Orinoco Belt and contains 35 billion barrels of certified oil in place, making it one of the largest undeveloped heavy oil resources in Venezuela. Eni has long been tied to the project, which began production in 2013 but has been constrained by years of underinvestment, operational disruption, and sanctions-related uncertainty.
  
  The latest to join the great oil industry return to Venezuela were two U.S. companies, Hunt Overseas Oil Company and Crossover Energy, which plan to operate in the Orinoco Belt, the South American country's prime oil province of heavy and extra heavy crude. The deals were signed in the presence of Jarrod Agen, President Trump's energy adviser and executive director of the National Energy Dominance Council, who arrived in Venezuela at the end of April on the first direct Miami-Caracas flight in nearly a decade.
  
  The two companies will focus on three areas in the Orinoco Belt, namely Monagas, Anzoategui, and Barinas, producing not only oil but also associated gas, which will be used for power generation, potentially solving a major supply security problem for the country. Venezuela has been hit by repeated blackouts in the past few years.
  
  Meanwhile, production is rising and so are exports. These reached their highest in more than seven years last month amid the global scramble for oil and rebounding oil production. The average daily ran at 1.23 million barrels, a 14% increase from the previous month. This was the highest rate of exports since before the United States hit Venezuela with sanctions during the first Trump term. Source: Oilprice.com
- 2026-05-08
  Oil Supply Shock Worsens amid Plunging Petroleum Inventories
  Global crude oil and fuel inventories are crashing at a record speed as the supply shock from the Middle East is too big to absorb without stock depletion. While the futures markets trade on sentiment and hopes that a U.S.-Iran deal could soon lead... Read more Global crude oil and fuel inventories are crashing at a record speed as the supply shock from the Middle East is too big to absorb without stock depletion.
  
  While the futures markets trade on sentiment and hopes that a U.S.-Iran deal could soon lead to the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, the actual physical disruption is enormous. It has already erased the oversupply that the market faced at the start of the Iran war. The initial buffers are gone, and now commercial inventories are depleting so fast that even an imminent reopening of the Strait of Hormuz will not reverse the stock draw for at least two months after flows from the Middle East normalize.
  
  Analysts and executives say the global inventory situation will get worse before it gets better, as the market will need months before a potential relief arrives from an operational Strait of Hormuz.
  
  Global Oil Inventories Crash
  
  “Drawdowns across onshore and commodities on water, along with key hubs such as ARA, the US, and Singapore, are helping bridge supply gaps,” Sumit Ritolia at Kpler wrote in an analysis last week.
  
  “However, inventory support remains finite and cannot sustainably offset prolonged disruptions,” the analyst noted.
  
  Goldman Sachs has estimated that plunging global oil inventories are approaching an eight-year low, with the rate of depletion so fast that it exposes the market to further shocks.
  
  While global oil stocks are “unlikely to hit minimum operational levels this summer, the speed of depletion and supply losses in some regions and products is concerning,” analysts at Goldman Sachs wrote in a note earlier this week.
  
  Total oil stocks globally have now dropped to about 101 days of expected demand. With the Strait of Hormuz inaccessible for nearly all tanker traffic, these stocks could drop to as low as 98 days of demand by the end of May, Goldman’s analysts warned.
  
  Stocks would continue to draw down even if crude flows through the Strait of Hormuz begin to recover in the coming weeks, as the peak summer season is approaching and cargoes from the Middle East – assuming they begin to move through Hormuz – will need weeks to reach destinations.
  
  Refined product stocks have been depleting even faster, with fuel stocks now down to 45 days of demand, from 50 days of demand before the war, Goldman Sachs reckons.
  
  The fuel buffers are “approaching very low levels fast,” according to the investment bank’s analysts.
  
  For example, jet fuel stocks held independently in the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) refining and storage hub fell by 4.7% in the last week of April, to their lowest level since March 2020, as imports crashed, data from Dutch consultancy Insights Global showed last week.
  
  The 2026 surplus scenario was quickly erased by the war with “global hydrocarbon inventories being materially drawn to balance the market, already at a pace of 10 to 13 million barrels of oil per day,” Patrick Pouyanné, chief executive at TotalEnergies SE, said on the supermajor’s earnings call last week.
  
  The world will have consumed about 1 billion barrels of inventories until supplies are restored and reach the market, Pouyanné added.
  
  “We would exit even if the conflict, and I hope so, will end in the month of May, we would exit the conflict with clearly some very low inventories,” the executive noted.
  
  CEO Darren Woods said on ExxonMobil’s earnings call, “it’s obvious to most that if you look at the unprecedented disruption in the world supply of oil and natural gas, the market hasn't seen the full impact of that yet.”
  
  “There’s more to come if the Strait remains closed.”
  
  Even if the Strait opened up today, “there's going to be a one to two-month time lag between the Strait opening up and the market seeing normal flow,” Woods said, noting that ships need to reposition themselves and take weeks to get the product to market.
  
  U.S. Stocks Are Depleting, Too
  
  The global stocks drawdown has reached the United States, too.
  
  Crude oil inventories in the United States decreased by 2.3 million barrels during the week ending May 1, the latest data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed on Wednesday. For total motor gasoline, the EIA reported that inventories had decreased by 2.5 million barrels on top of the 6.1 million barrels lost in the week prior.
  
  The imminent start of the driving season, further weeks of closed Strait of Hormuz, and further drops in U.S. fuel inventories are setting the stage for even higher gasoline prices in the summer, analysts say.
  
  As of May 1, U.S. gasoline stocks were at 219.8 million barrels, per EIA data, which is 4% below the five-year average and the lowest since 2014 for this time of year.
  
  U.S. gasoline stocks are on track to drop to historic lows of below 200 million barrels by the end of August, according to Morgan Stanley.
  
  “The US gasoline market is genuinely tight and tightening further into summer,” Morgan Stanley analysts wrote in a note earlier this week, as carried by Bloomberg.
  
  Despite the demand destruction already taking place in price-sensitive markets in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, the magnitude of this supply shock would support oil and fuel prices even if the Strait of Hormuz opened unconditionally to free traffic today, as it would take months before the return of some semblance of normality.
  
  Source: Oilprice.com
- 2026-05-08
  How Iran Is Bypassing the Strait of Hormuz Blockade
  The United States and Israel’s bombing campaign has left much of Iran’s infrastructure and industries in tatters, disrupting domestic production and hiking prices for basic food items. A US sea blockade has intensified the economic pressure on Iran,... Read more The United States and Israel’s bombing campaign has left much of Iran’s infrastructure and industries in tatters, disrupting domestic production and hiking prices for basic food items.
  
  A US sea blockade has intensified the economic pressure on Iran, hampering its trade through the Strait of Hormuz, a key maritime chokepoint that has been effectively closed since the war began on February 28.
  
  In response, Tehran has turned to alternative routes, trucking goods from neighboring Pakistan and Turkey as well as shipping cargo from Russia, an ally, through the Caspian Sea. Iran is also looking at sending oil by rail to China, a key trading partner.
  
  Steve H. Hanke, a professor of applied economics at Baltimore's Johns Hopkins University, said alternative routes can supply the Iranian economy with consumer goods, food, and industrial materials. But they “cannot replace a maritime container economy one-for-one.”
  
  “Trucking is more expensive and Caspian throughput is constrained by port and fleet capacity,” said Hanke, a former economic adviser to the administration of US President Ronald Reagan. “Expect higher landed costs and higher inflation in tradeables but not the economic implosion some have advertised.”
  
  Iran trade routes
  
  Trump claimed in late April that Iran’s “whole oil infrastructure is going to explode” because the US barricade was preventing Tehran from exporting its oil, the country’s economic lifeline. But experts are skeptical that the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz will force Tehran to capitulate or sign a peace deal on US terms.
  
  For their part, Iranian officials have said the US embargo has not impacted the country's ability to source basic goods and food, pointing to strong domestic production and alternative import routes.
  
  “Despite the US naval blockade, we have no problem in supplying basic goods and food because, due to the size of the country, it is possible to import from different borders," Agriculture Minister Gholamreza Nouri said on April 21.
  
  Rosemary Kelanic, director of the Middle East Program at Defense Priorities, a Washington-based think tank, said Iran’s geography has lessened the blow of the US naval blockade.
  
  A country of some 90-million people, Iran has nearly 6,000 kilometers of land borders with seven countries as well as a 700-kilometer-long coastline along the Caspian Sea, connecting it to Central Asia and Russia.
  
  “Measures like trucking in goods from neighboring countries can compensate for blockade-related disruptions, though the compensation may not be one-for-one -- trade volumes might be lower, transit costs will be somewhat higher, and the exact mix of goods might change,” she said. “But there are plenty of ways a war economy can substitute like-goods for one another.”
  
  “The possibilities for the Iranians to ‘MacGyver’ their way around Trump's blockade are endless because the country has thousands of miles of land border to work with,” Kelanic added.
  
  Under international law, blockades are barred from impeding the flow of foodstuffs and medicine. It is unclear if the United States is blocking shipments of civilian goods to Iran inadvertently or by policy. RFE/RL requested comments from the White House.
  
  Land Routes
  
  Iranian lawmaker Ebrahim Najafi said last month that the country was using land routes with Pakistan, Turkey, Armenia, and Azerbaijan as well as the Caspian Sea to import goods.
  
  Pakistan on April 25 opened its ports to third-country cargo bound for Iran. The move established six land routes for goods to be transported from the ports of Gwadar, Karachi, and Port Qasim to the Iranian border. The routes will be mainly used to import rice, meat, and baby formula.
  
  Since the US blockade was imposed on April 13, around 3,000 containers destined for Iran have been stuck in Pakistani ports.
  
  The Kapikoy-Razi crossing, meanwhile, connects Iran to Turkey. Linking West Asia to Europe, the transit corridor facilitates major commercial trade. It is unclear if Iran has increased its imports through the corridor since the blockade was imposed.
  
  Russia has reactivated shipments via the Caspian Sea to Bandar Anzali, an Iranian port on the world's largest inland sea.
  
  Bandar Anzali was targeted by Israeli air strikes on March 18, causing damage. At the time, Israel said it had struck targets at an Iranian Navy port and base facilities where dozens of military vessels, including missile ships and guard boats, were stationed.
  
  Media reports have suggested that Moscow and Tehran are using the Caspian Sea to smuggle sanctioned oil and weapons. But Iran and Russia also exchange food goods via the route. Grain trade between Iran and Russia was halted immediately following the Israeli attack but resumed afterward.
  
  Kpler, a commodities and shipping analytics company, said around a dozen ships from Russia, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan carrying grain, corn, and sunflower oil have arrived in Iran’s Caspian ports since mid-April.
  
  Crude By Rail
  
  Besides securing new import routes, Iran is also looking at ways to export goods, especially its oil.
  
  The US blockade has significantly disrupted Iran's seaborne oil exports but has not stopped them entirely. Some Iran-linked tankers have managed to bypass the barricade, according to cargo-tracking group Vortexa and maritime data company Lloyd's List.
  
  The Islamic republic should be able to ride out the blockade for another two months, experts said, pointing to the up to 130 million barrels of Iranian oil that were already out at sea before the barricade came into effect.
  
  Still, Iran is turning to alternatives, including exporting oil by rail to China, which buys around 90 percent of Iran’s supplies, according to Hamid Hosseini, spokesman for Iran’s oil exporters union.
  
  Rail infrastructure connects Iran to the Chinese cities of Yiwu and Xi’an. The Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran corridor opened in 2014 and was extended by China's 10,400-kilometer freight link completed in 2025.
  
  “Rail can move strategically meaningful volumes, but it cannot, in the near term, substitute for tankers at scale,” said Hanke of Johns Hopkins University.
  
  “Its value is partly logistical and partly political: it operates entirely outside any waterway a Western navy can patrol, and entirely outside the dollar payments system, since China has settled Iranian oil in yuan since 2012.”
  
  Kelanic of Defense Priorities said transporting oil by sea is more efficient, but there were ways Iran could ship oil overland to circumvent the US embargo.
  
  “Iran can also truck oil by highway, for example, as Iraq has done, avoiding the Strait of Hormuz by trucking oil overland through Syria to the Mediterranean Sea,” she said.
  
  “In the short run, the volumes will be smaller, constrained by the availability of tanker trucks. But recipient countries or third countries could provide additional trucks, perhaps as a political favor to Iran, or simply because it would be in their interest to increase their own access to oil in a tight market.” Source: Oilprice.com
- 2026-05-08
  Canadian Natural Says Pipeline Needed to Unlock Oil Sands Growth
  Canada’s oil sands can grow, but getting the barrels out of the country is a problem. This is a constraint that has defined the sector for years. President Scott Stauth told analysts the industry needs a West Coast export line to unlock meaningful... Read more Canada’s oil sands can grow, but getting the barrels out of the country is a problem.
  
  This is a constraint that has defined the sector for years. President Scott Stauth told analysts the industry needs a West Coast export line to unlock meaningful growth.
  
  “We need that pipeline to be able to grow oil sands in a significant way,” Stauth said, pointing to a proposed 1 million bpd line from Alberta to British Columbia’s northwest coast.
  
  Production is already pushing limits. Canadian Natural averaged 1.64 million boepd in the first quarter, up from 1.58 million a year earlier. Output at its Jackfish thermal project hit a record 134,396 bpd, running above nameplate capacity. In April, total oil sands production across its assets reached about 630,000 bpd.
  
  But the issue isn’t production.
  
  Pipeline constraints have repeatedly forced Canadian producers to accept lower prices or slow growth. Even with the Trans Mountain expansion in service and incremental capacity coming through Enbridge’s Mainline, the system is still tight.
  
  Producers are lining up options. A separate proposal from South Bow and Bridger Pipeline would move roughly 550,000 bpd to the United States by reviving parts of the Keystone XL route. Expansion work is also planned on existing systems.
  
  Still, the largest projects remain on hold. Canadian Natural has a 150,000 bpd expansion at its Jackpine site ready to move forward. It is waiting for confidence that takeaway capacity will be there.
  
  Policy is also in the mix. Federal and provincial governments are still negotiating carbon pricing rules, and Ottawa has tied support for a new West Coast line to large-scale carbon capture. Stauth did not address that condition.
  
  Source: Oilprice.com
- 2026-05-08
  U.S. Cracks Down on Iraq Oil Links to Iran
  The United States has sanctioned Iraq’s deputy oil minister and several Iran-aligned militia leaders, stepping directly into a part of the oil trade that has been operating in the gray since the war began. The Treasury Department accused Deputy Oil... Read more The United States has sanctioned Iraq’s deputy oil minister and several Iran-aligned militia leaders, stepping directly into a part of the oil trade that has been operating in the gray since the war began.
  
  The Treasury Department accused Deputy Oil Minister Ali Maarij Al-Bahadly of facilitating the diversion of Iraqi crude to benefit Iran and affiliated militias. The move also targets senior figures tied to Kata’ib Sayyid Al-Shuhada and Asa’ib Ahl Al-Haq. Any U.S. assets are frozen, and Americans are barred from doing business with them.
  
  The market is already reeling from the Strait of Hormuz crisis. Iraqi flows have been constrained, rerouted, and in some cases dependent on arrangements with Iran just to export its oil, which the Iraqi government depends on.
  
  Baghdad has already been offering steep discounts on Basrah crude, as much as $30 per barrel below official selling prices, to compensate for the risk and logistical mess tied to Hormuz-linked shipments.
  
  Washington has been scrambling to alleviate pressure elsewhere to keep oil supplies from collapsing. Sanctions waivers have allowed some Russian and Venezuelan barrels to move, while Iraqi exports have continued under complicated conditions. The result? A system where enforcement is tightening in one place and loosening in another.
  
  The allegation that Iraqi documentation has been used to move Iranian crude is not new. Iraqi officials said earlier this year that tankers stopped in the Gulf were carrying forged Iraqi paperwork. Tehran denied it. The U.S. action suggests Washington is now treating that issue as an enforcement priority rather than a side problem.
  
  The market is already short on oil, and Iraq remains one of the few producers with scale that is still trying to maintain exports through the now-broken system. Targeting officials tied to that flow risks tightening supply even further.
  
  The U.S. and Iran continue to move toward at least a temporary agreement to halt the war. These sanctions seek to choke off oil revenue before any deal is reached, signaling that even if the fighting is paused, enforcement around the flow of oil is not going away. Source: Oilprice.com
- 2026-05-08
  Chinese Firm Takes U.S. Banks to Court Over Pre-Sanction Payment Freeze
  Chinese fuel trader HY Energy is suing U.S. banking giants JP Morgan and Citigroup for blocked payments to a Chinese oil firm a year before the latter was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury for dealing with Iranian oil, Bloomberg reports. HY Energy, a... Read more Chinese fuel trader HY Energy is suing U.S. banking giants JP Morgan and Citigroup for blocked payments to a Chinese oil firm a year before the latter was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury for dealing with Iranian oil, Bloomberg reports.
  
  HY Energy, a regional fuel trader in eastern China, alleges in two separate lawsuits filed in Shanghai and Beijing that JP Morgan and Citi failed to process and complete transfers for a total of $40 million to China Oil and Petroleum Company Limited (COPC) back in 2023.
  
  This was months before COPC was designated in by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) for being a front company for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF).
  
  China Oil and Petroleum Company was designated “for having materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to or in support of, the IRGC-QF,” the Treasury said in February 2024. OFAC designated the Hong Kong-based front company for being “involved in the sale of hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of Iranian commodities for the benefit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF).”
  
  In its lawsuits against JP Morgan and Citi, the Chinese fuel trader HY Energy alleges that the timing of the unprocessed payments precedes the sanctions against China Oil and Petroleum Company by months and thus lacks any basis.
  
  The U.S. banks informed HY Energy in May 2024 – that’s after the sanctions were placed – that the payments have been released to the OFAC. The Chinese plaintiff alleges the banks should be held liable for the financial losses they have incurred to the Chinese firms.
  
  Amid the ongoing Middle East crisis, the U.S. has just escalated the sanctions on Chinese companies for buying Iranian oil by placing Hengli Petrochemical, one of China’s largest independent refiners, under sanctions.
  
  The escalation of sanctions also escalated the U.S.-China trade tensions, with China early this week formally invoking its 2021 Blocking Rules for the first time to counteract U.S. sanctions against five Chinese oil refineries. Beijing has issued a prohibition order instructing all entities operating in China to disregard and not implement U.S. sanctions placed on five targeted refiners.
  
  Source: Oilprice.com
- 2026-05-08
  IEA: Tight Gas Markets Will Last Through 2030
  The war in Iran and the subsequent loss of LNG supply from the Middle East are altering the medium-term outlook of global natural gas balances, with tighter markets set to last longer than previously expected, a senior official at the International Energy... Read more The war in Iran and the subsequent loss of LNG supply from the Middle East are altering the medium-term outlook of global natural gas balances, with tighter markets set to last longer than previously expected, a senior official at the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Thursday.
  
  The Middle East crisis has resulted, so far, in the loss of about 120 billion cubic meters (bcm) of global LNG supply through 2030, Gergely Molnar, Energy Analyst – Natural Gas, at the IEA, said.
  
  Global LNG supplies have shrank by around 15% due to the conflict and the closed Strait of Hormuz, the official said at the Budapest LNG Summit, as carried by Reuters.
  
  In this situation, the EU will need an additional 10 billion bcm of natural gas this summer to refill the depleted inventories, which have dropped to multi-year low levels at the end of the heating season, Molnar said.
  
  The Qatari LNG halt and the damage to key facilities will delay the previously expected LNG supply wave by at least two years, the IEA said in its quarterly gas report at the end of April.
  
  “The combined effect of short-term supply losses and slower capacity growth could result in a cumulative loss of around 120 billion cubic metres of LNG supply between 2026 and 2030,” the agency noted.
  
  “While new liquefaction projects in other regions are expected to offset these losses over time, the impact will prolong tight markets through 2026 and 2027.”
  
  More recently, the IEA said that global methane abatement measures could unlock, in the longer term, natural gas volumes that would be double the current supply trapped by the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
  
  Tackling methane emissions and implementing readily accessible methane abatement measures across global gas systems could, in the short term, make nearly 15 billion bcm of gas very quickly available to markets.
  
  Over the longer term, efforts to cut methane from oil and gas operations globally could deliver nearly 100 bcm of gas to markets each year, while eliminating non-emergency gas flaring could unlock a further 100 bcm, according to estimates by the international agency. Source: Oilprice.com
- 2026-05-08
  EU: Airlines Should Pay Passengers for Cancelations due to Fuel Price Surge
  Airlines will have to continue reimbursing travelers if they cancel flights due to high jet fuel prices, EU Sustainable Transport and Tourism Commissioner, Apostolos Tzitzikostas, told the Financial Times in an interview published on Thursday. European... Read more Airlines will have to continue reimbursing travelers if they cancel flights due to high jet fuel prices, EU Sustainable Transport and Tourism Commissioner, Apostolos Tzitzikostas, told the Financial Times in an interview published on Thursday.
  
  European airlines are struggling with a spike in jet fuel prices, while officials and analysts warn that Europe has just weeks before it feels kerosene shortages.
  
  Tzitzikostas played down estimates that jet fuel shortages could hit Europe in June if the situation at the Strait of Hormuz does not improve, and warned against alarmist messages ahead of the peak tourism season.
  
  The EU’s plan from last month to accelerate coordination among all member states to ensure the availability of jet fuel and diesel should help the bloc go through this period of major supply disruptions, he added.
  
  According to the commissioner, the spike in jet fuel prices is no extraordinary circumstance for canceling flights.
  
  “The price of jet fuel is the reason why we have cancellations of flights and if they cancel flights without extraordinary circumstances — jet fuel prices are not extraordinary circumstances — they will have to reimburse the people,” Tzitzikostas told FT.
  
  Earlier this week, Lufthansa Group, Europe’s biggest airline, said it expects the surge in jet fuel prices to cost it an additional $2 billion this year as the closure of the Strait of Hormuz “is leading to a shortage in kerosene supply and thus to a significant increase in kerosene prices.”
  
  The war in Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz have severely constrained Europe’s jet fuel supply, while jet fuel prices have spiked to over $200 per barrel.
  
  The war in Iran has cut most of Europe’s imports of jet fuel, while local output has been falling for nearly two decades due to dozens of refineries closing permanently or being converted to biofuel production.
  
  Source: Oilprice.com

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