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Vessels passing outside routes set by the Persian Gulf Strait Authority, a body set up by Iran to manage the Strait of Hormuz, will not be guaranteed safe passage, the authority said in a post on X on Thursday. "Consequences arising from passage through unauthorised routes shall be the responsibility of the owner, operator, and vessel commander", the PGSA said. The PGSA's warning came after British maritime agency UKMTO said that a cargo ship reported a suspected attack near Oman while [Read more]

The United Nations’ shipping agency on Thursday paused an evacuation effort to get hundreds of stranded ships and thousands of seafarers out through the Strait of Hormuz after a vessel was attacked in the Gulf of Oman. "I have been informed of an attack today in the Gulf of Oman on a vessel which passed through the Strait of Hormuz. This vessel did not transit under IMO’s evacuation framework," Arsenio Dominguez, Secretary-General of the U.N.'s International Maritime Organization (IMO), said [Read more]

Iraq's state oil marketer SOMO issued a tender on Thursday offering to sell Basra Heavy and Basra Medium oil in July, trade sources said. SOMO has not specified volumes in the tender, they said, adding the tender will close on Saturday. The company is asking buyers to lift oil from its Basra Oil Terminal, inside the Strait of Hormuz. It is asking bidders to offer prices linked to Dated Brent for supplies to Europe, Argus Sour Crude Index (ASCI) for the United States, and an average of [Read more]

A cargo ship reported a suspected attack as it attempted to pass through the Strait of Hormuz close to the coast of Oman on Thursday, British navy agency UKMTO said. The UN's International Maritime Organization is currently assisting ships escape the Gulf, hundreds of which have been stranded there since the Iran war began at the end of February. The ship reported being struck on its starboard side by a projectile 7.5 nautical miles southeast of Oman's port of Dahit, the UKMTO [Read more]

A short-term glut has pushed oil futures back to pre-war levels as Middle East exports jump, analysts said and price data show, but returning demand and a slow normalisation could tighten the market next year. August Brent futures traded around $73 a barrel on Thursday, their lowest since February 27 and 41 cents below September futures. Prompt prices trading below later contracts — known as contango — signal ample supply in the market. "The mini tsunami currently seen following the [Read more]

Crude shipments through the Strait of Hormuz rose this week to their highest level since the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran began in February after a ceasefire deal reopened the waterway, data showed on Thursday. Concerns about how long the strait would stay open also boosted trade. Still, while there was an increase in oil shipments amid strong demand, especially in Asia after months of disruptions, overall sailings are still a fraction of the daily average of 125 ships passing through [Read more]

Peace in the Gulf may ease pump prices, but not the Federal Reserve's bigger problem: a U.S. economy that may already have been overheating before the Iran war. If oil retreats to pre-war levels, it could even spur demand at a critical juncture and worsen cost-of-living fears. That sounds like a "damned if it does, damned if it doesn't" predicament. Yet the Fed's dilemma on inflation and interest rates might not be resolved as easily by normalizing fuel prices as either it or President Donald [Read more]

Iraq's oil ministry said on Thursday that reports suggesting Baghdad was considering ending its membership in OPEC did not reflect the Iraqi government's official position. The ministry added that Iraq continued to stress the importance of reviewing oil production quotas to ensure they are aligned with member states' sustainable production capacities. (Reporting by Jana Choukeir; Editing by Alexandra Hudson) [Read more]