President Donald Trump invoked the Defense Production Act on Monday to sign a series of energy-related presidential memorandums, the White House announced, as his administration aims to tackle rising fuel prices as a result of U.S. and Israel's war on Iran. * Trump signed memorandums on coal supply chains, domestic petroleum production, natural gas transmission and liquefied natural gas capacity. * The U.S. president also signed memorandums on grid infrastructure and other energy-related [Read more]

U.S. President Donald Trump signed a memorandum on Monday saying action to expand the domestic petroleum production, refining, and logistics capacity is necessary to avert an industrial resource or critical technology item shortfall that would severely impair national defense capability, the White House said. (Reporting by Christian Martinez and Ismail Shakil; Editing by Caitlin Webber) [Read more]

Iran is considering attending peace talks with the United States in Pakistan, a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Monday, following moves by Islamabad to end a U.S. blockade of Iran's ports, a major hurdle for Tehran to rejoin peace efforts. However, the official stressed that no decision had been made. Adding to the uncertainty, a source told Reuters that Vice President JD Vance was still in the U.S., denying reports that he was already on his way to Pakistan's capital Islamabad for [Read more]

Researchers at Citi said on Monday that global crude and product inventories could decline by roughly 900 million barrels even if the United States and Iran agree to a ceasefire extension this week, and both Strait of Hormuz flows and oil production recover to normal levels by the end of June. The bank said the decline would include the drawdown of 500 million barrels that has already occurred, with a further 400 million barrels drawn down due to ramp-up delays, logistical bottlenecks, and [Read more]

A senior Iranian official said on Monday that Tehran is positively reviewing its participation in potential peace talks with the United States but that no final decision has been made. The Iranian official said positive efforts are underway by mediator Pakistan to end the U.S. blockade and to ensure Iran's participation in the peace talks. A Pakistan source involved in the talks said the two-week ceasefire ends on April 22 at 8 pm EST. (Reporting by Parisa Hafezi; Editing by Hugh [Read more]

Kuwait has declared force majeure on shipments of crude oil and refined products after a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz prevented some vessels from entering the Persian Gulf, hindering its ability to meet certain customer commitments, Bloomberg News reported on Monday, citing a document. State-run Kuwait Petroleum Corp. notified customers on Friday that it was invoking a contract clause allowing it to withhold scheduled deliveries, the report said. It added that the decision is not [Read more]

Phillips 66 and Kinder Morgan have secured enough long-term shipper commitments to move forward with a proposed pipeline project to supply fuel to Arizona and California, they said on Monday. The Western Gateway Pipeline project comes as companies race to build a major new fuel pipeline to the U.S. West Coast ahead of planned refinery closures in California, a relatively isolated fuel market with limited pipeline links to major refining hubs, leaving it vulnerable to supply disruptions and [Read more]

The U.S. military has directed 27 vessels to turn around or return to an Iranian port since the beginning of its blockade around the Strait of Hormuz, U.S. Central Command said in a statement on X on Monday. (Reporting by Katharine Jackson and Doina Chiacu; editing by Michelle Nichols) [Read more]

Shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remained at a virtual standstill on Monday with just three crossings in the space of 12 hours, according to shipping data. The oil products tanker Nero, which is under British sanctions for Russian oil activities, left the Gulf and was sailing through the Strait, according to satellite analysis from data analytics specialists SynMax and tracking data from the Kpler platform. Two other ships - a chemical tanker and a liquefied petroleum gas [Read more]