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OTTAWA - The federal government is advancing the process to designate a proposed oil pipeline to the West Coast as a "national interest" project. Designating a project as being in national interest under the Building Canada Act allows the government to fast-track approvals and skirt some environmental laws. A notice published in the Canada Gazette on Aug. 1 sets a Sept. 18 deadline to submit comments on the national interest designation. The government's notice says Intergovernmental [Read more]

U.S. Secretary Scott Bessent said there could be a deal reached with Iran on the reopening of the Hormuz Strait by Tuesday or Wednesday. "We are in talks with the Iranians, and I think there is a chance we may have a deal today or tomorrow to open the Strait and move towards a more normalized position in this conflict," Bessent said in an interview with CNBC. (Reporting by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Andrew Heavens) [Read more]

U.S. oil exports in July fell to 3.66 million barrels per day, the lowest level in eight months, ship tracking data showed, as a short-lived peace deal between the U.S. and Iran in June briefly flooded markets with Middle Eastern oil and diminished demand for American crude abroad. The U.S. had cinched the spot as the world's top oil exporter this year after the Iran war sharply cut supplies of Middle Eastern crude and forced Asian and European countries to turn to the U.S. to fill the gap. [Read more]

Iran wants control over inbound shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and visibility over outbound traffic, with the ability to intervene if necessary, under a temporary plan being discussed with Oman to reopen the strategic waterway, a senior Iranian source told Reuters on Tuesday. The source, who is involved in the talks, said this is "the general idea currently being discussed", and specified that the outbound lane would follow a route between Iran and Oman, with exit clearance granted [Read more]

Goldman Sachs said on Tuesday it expects Brent crude to trade in an $80-$90 per barrel range until there is either confirmation of a new U.S.-Iran nuclear deal or a significant escalation of their conflict. The bank estimates spot Brent's fair value at about $80 a barrel, suggesting markets are pricing in only a modest risk premium despite ongoing uncertainty over Middle East oil supplies. Brent traded near $85 a barrel on Tuesday as conflicting signals from the U.S. and Iran over the [Read more]

Asia's crude oil imports climbed to the highest in July since the Iran war started, but were still 15% below pre-conflict levels. The top-energy consuming continent saw imports of 22.82 million barrels per day in July, according to data compiled by commodity analysts Kpler. This was down about 4 million bpd from the average of 26.89 million bpd in the three months prior to the U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran on February 28. Imports of refined fuels also showed some recovery in July, [Read more]