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France is pushing on with efforts to put together a coalition to secure the Strait of Hormuz once the security situation stabilises, two French officials said on Friday, after a report suggested Paris was negotiating safe passage for its ships. European states have been largely sidelined as the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran has ‌escalated, with Iran carrying out strikes against Israel, U.S. bases and Gulf states. But with shipping lanes affected and the conflict pushing up oil prices, European [Read more]

Crude oil supply cuts are on track to reach nearly 12 million barrels per day by the end of next week, intensifying deficits in physical markets as tanker movements through a key Middle Eastern waterway face a two-week disruption, JPMorgan said in a note on Friday. "Commercial tanker traffic remains extremely limited, with most vessels now Iranian and likely headed to China," the bank said, adding that while cargoes leaving the Gulf before the shutdown are still arriving, new shipments have [Read more]

The International Energy Agency said the closure of the Strait of Hormuz has triggered the largest disruption to global oil markets in history, with supply expected to fall by about 8 million barrels per day in March, or around 8%. The agency's member countries responded by agreeing to release a record 400 million barrels from strategic stockpiles to stabilise oil prices and compensate for the loss of Middle East output. Here is a list of some of the previous disruptions to oil [Read more]

World markets, rocked by a Middle East war that could trigger another inflationary shock, are looking back at the play book from Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 for clues on what's next. Back then, with the global economy emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic, surging energy prices magnified already rising inflation, equities fell, and investors sought safety in the dollar. "There are some parallels, in the sense that the global economy is weak now because of the trade war," said George [Read more]

U.S. President Donald Trump said he was looking at loosening shipping rules under the Jones Act, telling Fox News in an interview that aired on Friday that he would take a look at it but giving no other details. "We'll take a look, we'll take a look at everything, and it's all going to work out," Trump said in an interview with Fox News Radio's "The Brian Kilmeade Show" taped on Thursday night. Trump discussed military plans throughout the roughly 45-minute interview, saying the U.S. [Read more]

There is no clear evidence that Iran has placed mines in the Strait of Hormuz, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told a news briefing on Friday. The assessment by Hegseth contrasts with news reports earlier this week suggesting Iran had deployed about a dozen mines in the Strait of Hormuz, the conduit for a fifth of the world's oil. Asked about the possibility of mines in the Strait, Hegseth said: "We've heard them talk about it just like you've reported recklessly and wildly about it. [Read more]

Russia sees a U.S. sanctions waiver on its oil as an attempt by Washington to stabilise global energy markets, and the two countries have a shared interest in this, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday. The United States issued a 30-day waiver for countries to buy sanctioned Russian oil and petroleum products currently at sea, in what Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said was a step to stabilise global markets roiled by the Iran war. Without significant volumes of Russian oil [Read more]

WASHINGTON - Countries around the world are grappling with skyrocketing costs for key commodities like oil and fertilizer as the war with Iran continues to upend global trade. With no end in sight, the war is likely to cast a shadow over trade negotiations ahead of the mandatory review of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on trade — and could ultimately offer Canada more leverage in those talks. "If you're sitting in Washington and you're seeing what's happening to global markets, you're [Read more]