The United States told fellow member nations of the International Energy Agency that current plans to release emergency oil inventories don’t go far enough to quell rising fuel prices, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter. While US officials attending an IEA gathering in Paris have yet to table a proposal about what should be done, they have been informally lobbying for an extra commitment of at least 100 million barrels, the report said. Reuters [Read more]

The Saudi-led military coalition in Yemen said on Thursday that the country's Houthis had attempted to attack dozens of Saudi airports, ports and oil facilities, as fighting between the Iran-aligned group and Saudi Arabia intensified. The Houthis have been firing ballistic missiles and drones at key Saudi sites for a week, in response to the kingdom's backing of government forces in Yemen's renewed civil war. The coalition's latest statement highlighted the risk to Saudi civilian [Read more]

Iran's army said on Thursday that a "violating" oil tanker is on fire in the eastern part of the Strait of Hormuz, according to a statement carried by state media. "This rogue tanker, having disabled its tracking systems, was attempting to pass through the restricted area in the Gulf of Oman", the army statement added. (Reporting by Elwely Elwelly, Editing by Louise Heavens) [Read more]

The Kremlin said on Thursday that Russian diesel had begun to reach global markets following an agreement with US President Donald Trump. Trump said last week that Russia had agreed to supply diesel to global markets in an effort to lower fuel prices, while Moscow partially lifted its ban on diesel exports from October 10 following the agreement. "The diesel has started reaching global markets and is expected to have a positive effect on stabilising oil markets, although it will not be [Read more]

The Kremlin on Thursday said that Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries ran counter to US peace efforts, after a Ukrainian drone struck a refinery in Russia's Ryazan region overnight. US President Trump declared an energy ceasefire on Sunday, something Ukraine said it had first learnt about from media reports and which Russia did not publicly commit itself to. Kyiv said it had paused strikes on Russian oil refineries for three days, but had resumed them after Russia continued to [Read more]

When the oil supertanker Esteem Explorer sails from the United States to Japan in late November, loaded with about 2 million barrels of crude, the journey will cost $81 million. The same journey would have cost $9.1 million last year, on average. The shipping cost translates into $40.50 per barrel, about nine times last year's rate. While oil's soaring selling price worries consumers, the Esteem Explorer's expensive voyage illustrates how transport costs are further inflating the price. [Read more]

Oil markets initially treated the Iran war as a brief bullish disruption in a long-term bearish trend. But traders are now betting that oil prices will remain elevated through 2028, forcing a rethink of the global inflation outlook. Eight months into the war, the buffers that helped absorb the initial energy shock – most notably onshore crude oil stockpiles – are wearing dangerously thin. At the same time, the recovery in crude exports through the Strait of Hormuz remains fragile, global [Read more]

Prolonged war in the Middle East and further disruptions to energy production, shipping routes or critical infrastructure pose the biggest risk to economies in the Middle East and Central Asia, the International Monetary Fund said on Thursday. Jihad Azour, the IMF's director for the Middle East and Central Asia, told reporters the war was imposing a highly uneven economic shock to the broader region, with directly affected states under severe pressure. "The outlook depends critically on [Read more]

Ukraine will resume strikes on Russian refineries, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told the Financial Times in an interview published on Thursday. “The block (on attacking refineries) is out. We’re done,” Zelenskiy told the newspaper. He was critical of Washington’s eagerness to strike business deals with Moscow and US President Donald Trump’s apparent admiration for Russia’s Vladimir Putin, the FT report said. Trump on Saturday called for Ukraine to replace Zelenskiy and railed [Read more]