Attacks on Saudi Arabia by Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis this week have frustrated Pakistan and threaten to draw Islamabad into the conflict, complicating any future role it may have as a mediator between the United States and Iran. Nuclear-armed Pakistan, which helped broker an interim deal last month in the war between Washington and Tehran, signed a mutual defence agreement with Saudi Arabia last year and thousands of Pakistani soldiers have been deployed to the kingdom, alongside a squadron [Read more]

Yemen's Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi said on Thursday that all Saudi oil and other vital facilities would be targets for the group's missiles and drones if Riyadh escalated its involvement in the conflict. The warning came after the Houthis fired missiles at Saudi Arabia, accusing the kingdom of bombing an airport under their control on Monday, marking a rupture in a four-year truce between the two sides. The Iran-aligned Houthis have previously targeted Saudi energy infrastructure. [Read more]

The U.S. Energy Information Administration said on Thursday it was reviewing the results of a pilot study to better understand minimum working crude oil inventory for some storage hubs at Cushing, Oklahoma, after stocks reached levels that may constrain normal operations. Cushing, the delivery point for U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures, is one of the world's largest oil storage hubs. Stock levels at the site are closely watched because they directly influence WTI prices and [Read more]

Iran has asked Yemen’s Houthi movement to stand ready to close the Red Sea oil route if the United States strikes Iranian power infrastructure, three sources told Reuters on Thursday, posing a potent new threat to global energy supplies. The idea has been discussed within the Islamic Republic's leadership, and the message has been conveyed to Iran's Houthi allies, two senior Iranian sources and a regional source familiar with the matter said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The sources [Read more]

China caught the oil industry by surprise during the Iran war, pulling powerful levers to shield itself from the biggest energy shock in decades. In the process, it established itself as a new force in global energy markets – an independent, opaque, massive power. The measures China used to offset the energy supply shock — sharply cutting crude imports, restricting exports of refined fuels and drawing on domestic inventories — culminated in a decades-long campaign to reduce its heavy dependence [Read more]

The discount on Western Canada Select crude oil to North American benchmark West Texas Intermediate futures narrowed on Wednesday. WCS for August delivery in Hardisty, Alberta, settled at $13.15 a barrel below the U.S. benchmark WTI, according to brokerage CalRock, compared to $13.40 on Tuesday. * The discount remains significantly wider than it was in June, after traffic through the Strait of Hormuz picked up earlier this month and due to the ongoing weakness in China's import appetite, which [Read more]

Iran's top negotiator Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said on Wednesday that if Iran did not benefit from its memorandum of understanding with the U.S., "we have no reason to adhere to such an understanding". Iran's national security depends on maintaining "Iranian arrangements" in the Strait of Hormuz, Qalibaf added in a statement posted on Telegram. He said Iran's approach to its war with the U.S. and negotiations to end it should be based on national interests, national security and a long-term [Read more]