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MABUX ARA LNG Bunker Index
Port LNG$/mton MGO LS$/mton Date
ARA
1 356.00
+67.00
1 265.00
+10.00
Aug 31
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Port	LNG$/mton	MGO LS$/mton	Date
ARA	1 356.00	+67.00	1 265.00	+10.00	Aug 31

MABUX Global Bunker Index

380HSFO$/mton		VLS FO$/mton		MGO LS$/mton		Date
622.00	+3.36	775.64	+7.40	1 349.80	+16.82	Aug 31

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MABUX Market Differential Index (MDI)

Correlation between market bunker prices (MBP) and MABUX Digital Bunker Price Benchmark (DBP)

All Indexes in $/mton	380HSFO			VLS FO			MGO LS			Date
All Indexes in $/mton	MBP Index	DBP Index	MDI	MBP Index	DBP Index	MDI	MBP Index	DBP Index	MDI	Date
Rotterdam	545	621	-76	665	695	-30	1 255	1 432	-177	Aug 31
Singapore	631	644	-13	783	785	-2	1 175	1 425	-250	Aug 31
Fujairah	620	594	+26	795	728	+67	1 389	1 488	-99	Aug 31
Houston	473	621	-148	678	721	-43	1 225	1 349	-124	Aug 31

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- Daily and Weekly Bunker analyses and Future Curves
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Latest News
- 2026-09-01
  Oil prices rise as latest fighting resurrects Middle East supply disruption risks
  Oil prices gained on Tuesday as the resumption of fighting between the U.S. and Iran in the Middle East renewed fears of supply disruptions from the world’s key crude-producing region. Brent crude futures were up 56 cents, or 0.6%, to $91.05 a barrel... Read more Oil prices gained on Tuesday as the resumption of fighting between the U.S. and Iran in the Middle East renewed fears of supply disruptions from the world’s key crude-producing region.
  
  Brent crude futures were up 56 cents, or 0.6%, to $91.05 a barrel at 0044 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was up 83 cents, or 1%, to $86.59.
  
  In the previous session, Brent closed up 2.7%, at one point reaching its highest since August 25, and WTI settled up 2.8%, touching its highest since August 21.
  
  On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump threatened further strikes against Iran following the first exchange of direct attacks between the countries in a month on Sunday, raising tensions in a conflict that had recently shifted into an economic standoff.
  
  "These bring the potential for Iranian retaliation back into the equation. That in turn raises the prospect of damage to energy infrastructure around the Gulf and adds fresh uncertainty for shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. Both of those risks are being reflected in the firmer tone in crude prices," said Tim Waterer, chief market analyst at KCM.
  
  Over the weekend, the number of visible commodity vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz dropped to five per day, shipping data from Kpler showed.
  
  Efforts by mediators including Qatar and Oman to broker a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which carried about a fifth of global oil supplies before the war erupted in late February, have so far failed to gain traction.
  
  Iran shut the waterway after the U.S. and Israel attacked the country February 28.
  
  Highlighting the risks that remain to shipping and oil supply, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency (UKMTO) said on Tuesday a tanker reported being struck by three projectiles while sailing out of the Strait of Hormuz. No casualties or environmental impact were reported.
  
  On Friday, Trump announced a deal with Venezuela to control oil reserves in the country, which he later said would help replenish the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which is near a 44-year low.
  
  U.S. companies Chevron and GE Vernova, India’s ONGC, Italy’s Eni and Colombia’s GeoPark are on track to sign final agreements in Venezuela after months of negotiations to firm up energy projects in the OPEC country, five sources close to the preparations said on Monday.
  
  Crude oil inventories in the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve declined by about 3.1 million barrels last week, leaving stockpiles at 286.6 million barrels.
  
  Analysts polled by Reuters in August expect oil prices to remain above $80 a barrel in 2026 as shipping disruptions continue. [O/POLL] Source: Reuters/Investing.com
- 2026-09-01
  Iran War Triggers Billions in New Oil Pipeline and Port Investment
  The severe disruption of oil and gas flows out of the Persian Gulf resulting from the war between the U.S. and Israel and Iran, has saddled energy-importing nations with soaring bills, supply uncertainty, and a murky outlook. However, there has been a... Read more The severe disruption of oil and gas flows out of the Persian Gulf resulting from the war between the U.S. and Israel and Iran, has saddled energy-importing nations with soaring bills, supply uncertainty, and a murky outlook. However, there has been a silver lining: a rush to build alternative conduits for bringing oil and gas out of the Middle East.
  
  The global total energy import bill swelled by $330 billion over the six months between March and August, Finnish climate outlet Centre for Energy Research and Clean Air reported earlier this month. This would not have been the case had the Strait of Hormuz remained open, the outlet noted in its report, highlighting the world’s reliance on an energy export corridor vulnerable to adverse geopolitical events and their fallout.
  
  Because of the closure of Hormuz, Persian Gulf oil producers had to idle wells and find ways to slip their stored oil out of the Gulf on tankers with their transponders switched off. Yet they also started working on alternative routes that bypassed the Strait of Hormuz altogether.
  
  Saudi Arabia demonstrated foresight with its East-West pipeline that it used to reroute its export flows from the Persian Gulf to the Red Sea in the first weeks of the war, ramping up to some 7 million barrels of crude daily along the pipe that had previously handled much lower volumes. The only major constraint in that rerouting was the capacity of the loading facilities at Yanbu Port.
  
  Later, of course, Saudi Arabia had to discover that the Red Sea is not safe because of the presence of the Yemeni Houthis in the Bab el-Mandeb strait and their affiliation with Iran. So, the Saudis had to reroute again, this time to the Suez Canal, which has an even more constrained tanker passage capacity. In other words, alternative routes are not perfect, but it is a good thing to have them.
  
  Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s neighbor and former OPEC fellow member, the United Arab Emirates, is planning to double the capacity of the pipeline it has to Fujairah—a port city that sits just outside the Strait of Hormuz. ADNOC, the state oil and gas major, plans to build a new project, the West-East 1 Pipeline, which is expected to become operational next year and double the UAE energy giant’s export capacity through the Emirate of Fujairah to meet global demand for energy supplies, from 1.8 million barrels daily to 3.6 million barrels daily.
  
  Big Oil is already in on it. TotalEnergies said it would take part in the ADNOC pipeline expansion project—and another pipeline project in Iraq. The idea is to build a pipeline through Syria to the latter’s Mediterranean coast and ship Iraqi crude from there.
  
  The U.S. has voiced its support for the project; however, per a Reuters report from earlier this month, the pipeline would cost at least $15 billion to build and take at least four years. This is not fast enough for Iraq. So, it is in talks with the new Syrian government to repair an old pipeline between the two countries that has not been used in 20 years. That, according to the heads of Syria’s state oil company, would take three years at most. Iraq is also talking to Turkey to expand oil flows via the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline to get more oil out.
  
  Kuwait is talking to the UAE and Saudi Arabia to expand the regional pipeline network so it can get its oil from Fujairah and Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea ports as an alternative to Hormuz. Kuwait faces an 8% GDP squeeze this year because of the war. Qatar is also set to book an economic shrinkage as its LNG exports are 100% dependent on the Strait of Hormuz being open for business. Saudi Arabia and the UAE have approached Japan for financial support for the pipeline network expansion, and Japan has agreed to take part. No wonder, seeing as the country was dependent on almost all of its oil imports from the Middle East and suffered a nasty shock when Iran shut down the Strait of Hormuz.
  
  Meanwhile, there is also talk about investments in port infrastructure, Reuters reported last week, citing unnamed sources. “If two years ago sports was the big buzz thing, I think for the time being, next year or two, they're going to say ports, ports, ports,” one of these sources told the publication. According to that source, ports have become a “mission-critical priority” for the governments of the Gulf states as they tackle the adverse economic consequences of the war that paralyzed tanker traffic in Hormuz.
  
  The latest news out of the Persian Gulf should motivate local governments to double down on the alternative oil and gas routes. The United States struck Iran again on Sunday, hitting rocket launchers inside the Strait of Hormuz, while Iran retaliated with strikes on U.S. bases in Jordan. Clearly, the crisis is not going to be over soon. Alternative routes will take time, but they will reshape the risk profile of the Middle East. Source: Oilprice.com
- 2026-09-01
  MABUX: Global bunker indices to continue sustainable upward trend on Sep. 01 amid Hormuz supply disruption concerns.
  The MABUX World Bunker Index — a composite benchmark reflecting daily prices for 380 HSFO, VLSFO, and MGO – continued its upward trajectory on Aug. 31 for the second consecutive day: 380 HSFO: USD/MT: 622.00 (+3.36) VLSFO: USD/MT: 775.64 (+7.40) MGO:... Read more The MABUX World Bunker Index — a composite benchmark reflecting daily prices for 380 HSFO, VLSFO, and MGO – continued its upward trajectory on Aug. 31 for the second consecutive day:
  
  380 HSFO: USD/MT: 622.00 (+3.36)
  VLSFO: USD/MT: 775.64 (+7.40)
  MGO: USD/MT: 1 349.80 (+16.82)
  
  As of Aug. 31, the MABUX Market Differential Index (MDI), which measures the spread between Market Bunker Prices (MBP) and the MABUX Digital Bunker Benchmark (DBP), registered the following trends across the four major global bunkering hubs—Rotterdam, Singapore, Fujairah, and Houston:
  
  • HSFO segment: Fujairah remained the only overpriced port, with its premium widening by $8. The other three hubs stayed in the undervaluation zone. The MDI discount declined by $10 in Rotterdam, $6 in Singapore, and $4 in Houston. Houston's MDI remained above the $100 mark.
  
  • VLSFO segment: Rotterdam, Singapore and Houston continued to be underpriced. The MDI discount narrowed by $8, $12, and $6, respectively. Fujairah remained the only overpriced port, with its premium widening by $9.
  
  • MGO LS segment: All four ports were undercharged. MDI discounts increased by $18 in Rotterdam, $8 in Singapore, $48 in Fujairah, and $19 in Houston. MDI values in Rotterdam, Singapore, and Houston remained above the $100 mark, while Fujairah's MDI moved closer to this threshold.
  
  MABUX expects Global bunker indices to extend their sustainable upward trend on Sep. 01, supported by persistent concerns over potential supply disruptions through the Strait of Hormuz: plus 5-10 USD/MT, VLSFO: plus 5-12 USD/MT, MGO LS: plus 8–20 USD/MT.
  Source: MABUX
- 2026-09-01
  Trump’s “Historic Deal” With Venezuela Isn’t Fooling Oil Traders
  Two days after President Trump called his new Venezuela agreement “the biggest oil deal in world history,” the story has already moved past the barrels themselves. A Pentagon spokesman contradicted the reported ownership structure. The company positioned... Read more Two days after President Trump called his new Venezuela agreement “the biggest oil deal in world history,” the story has already moved past the barrels themselves. A Pentagon spokesman contradicted the reported ownership structure. The company positioned to run the fields changed hands under murky circumstances just weeks before the deal was announced. And the revenue figures Caracas released over the weekend fall apart under basic math.
  
  Trump announced the deal Friday on Truth Social, saying Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had negotiated with Venezuela's interim President Delcy Rodriguez to secure majority U.S. control of more than 65 billion barrels of Venezuelan oil reserves.
  
  Rodriguez called it “historic” in a televised address Saturday night, describing a 25-year agreement covering 17 oilfields with a production target of 1.5 million barrels a day. Neither side has released the text of the agreement.
  
  As for the oil market, it isn't behaving like anything historic just happened.
  
  Brent crude jumped more than 2% Monday morning, not over anything related to Venezuela, but because the U.S. struck Iranian rocket launchers positioned near the Strait of Hormuz.
  
  Whatever is actually moving oil prices this week, it isn't this deal.
  
  The U.S. Government Can't Agree On What It Signed
  
  A U.S. official told PBS the arrangement gives Washington a 55% effective interest in a newly formed private company that will run the 17 fields, with the right to buy oil at cost for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve…
  
  By Saturday, the Wall Street Journal was reporting something different: a 35% passive stake in North American Blue Energy Partners, a firm already pumping around 200,000 barrels a day in Venezuela, financed through Pentagon “penny warrants” rather than a direct equity purchase.
  
  The Pentagon denied that version within a day…
  
  Spokesman Sean Parnell said its Office of Strategic Capital “does not take equity stakes in private companies.”
  
  Nobody has reconciled the two accounts, and no contract text exists publicly to settle it.
  
  The company at the center of that confusion, NABEP, is run by Alejandro Betancourt, a Venezuelan oil trader with longstanding political connections in Caracas.
  
  Weeks before that announcement, a buyer linked to Betancourt took over a minority stake in NABEP that had belonged to Florida oil trader Harry Sargeant III, a figure accused by U.S. allies of propping up the former Maduro government. Days after that sale closed, the Treasury Department froze Sargeant's offshore holding company.
  
  None of that proves the new deal is corrupt. But it's the same kind of opaque dealmaking that has defined Venezuela's oil sector for years, playing out again around the largest oil announcement in the country's history.
  
  The Reason Exxon And Conoco Aren't Signing Anything
  
  Washington has been trying to get major oil companies back into Venezuela since Maduro's capture in January, and the pitch keeps hitting the same obstacle…
  
  Venezuela never paid what it already owes.
  
  Exxon and ConocoPhillips were pushed out of the country during Hugo Chavez's 2007 nationalization wave and later won international arbitration awards that Caracas never fully honored. Conoco alone is still owed somewhere between $10 billion and $12 billion, and its CEO, Ryan Lance, has said collecting that debt isn't a side issue, it's a condition for putting any new money into the country.
  
  Add up every unresolved nationalization claim and defaulted bond, and Venezuela is carrying something close to $170 billion in legacy liabilities that predate this deal, debt that ranks ahead of whatever a new investor might put in.
  
  That's part of why the companies actually operating in Venezuela today are a narrower group…
  
  Chevron, which never fully left, along with smaller independents and oilfield service firms willing to accept more risk. Exxon has called the country uninvestable more than once. Even setting the debt aside, the oil itself is difficult to produce.
  
  Much of what sits in the Orinoco Belt is extra-heavy crude that has to be blended with lighter diluent before it can move through a pipeline, and Rystad Energy said in July that raising output just 17% by 2028 would take “higher drilling activity, extensive workover campaigns, improved infrastructure and significantly greater rig availability”.
  
  Francisco Monaldi of Rice University's Baker Institute told NPR that many of the fields in this deal are still undeveloped and will take years to produce anything, calling a near-term jump in output highly unlikely.
  
  Venezuela's $209 Billion Number Doesn't Hold Up
  
  Rodriguez's revenue estimate rests on oil holding at $65 a barrel for the next 25 years, a price crude hasn't traded near this year, with Brent now above $90.
  
  Under her numbers, Venezuela collects $19 for every barrel produced, adding up to $209 billion over the life of the deal. That sounds substantial until it's measured against what the country used to get.
  
  Under the fiscal terms Hugo Chavez put in place, Venezuela's government collected more than 75 cents of every dollar of oil extracted, through royalties, taxes and PDVSA dividends.
  
  Economist Francisco Rodriguez has pointed out that $209 billion spread across 25 years works out to about $8.4 billion a year, less than the $18.4 billion Venezuela brought in during 2025 alone, when it produced barely 941,000 barrels a day. He's also flagged what a flat $19-a-barrel figure is worth by the time the deal ends: adjusted for inflation, $19 in 2051 is worth roughly $9 today.
  
  None of this erases the fact that Venezuela's reserves are real, or that controlling access to them carries genuine strategic weight. But two days in, the U.S. government still can't describe its own deal consistently, the companies with the technical experience to actually develop these fields are staying out over debts nobody has addressed, and the number Caracas is using to sell the deal back home is a lot smaller than it sounds. Source: Oilprice.com
- 2026-09-01
  Is Taiwan America's Only Leverage Over China on Iran?
  There is always a winner in any major global oil crisis. In 1973/74, it was Saudi Arabia and its OPEC brothers who shifted the balance of power in the market away from the previous arrangement dominated by the West’s ‘Seven Sisters’ to the oil producers... Read more There is always a winner in any major global oil crisis. In 1973/74, it was Saudi Arabia and its OPEC brothers who shifted the balance of power in the market away from the previous arrangement dominated by the West’s ‘Seven Sisters’ to the oil producers of the Middle East. After the 2014-2016 Oil Price War, it was the U.S. whose earlier nascent shale oil sector resisted the threat to its very existence from Saudi Arabia and OPEC, reorganising into a meaner, leaner, lower-cost oil production machine. The U.S. was the winner again in the short-lived 2020 Oil Price War, and this, along with all the other major crises mentioned, is analysed in full in my latest book on the global oil markets. The latest rupture in the global oil market order that followed the U.S.’s ‘Operation Epic Fury’ against Iran that began on 28 February has also produced a clear winner. It is neither the U.S., Saudi Arabia, nor the other OPEC states -- it is China. So, how inclined will Beijing be to heed Washington’s newly announced sanctions on Iran ahead of the meeting of its President Xi Jinping with U.S. counterpart Donald Trump on 24 September at the White House?
  
  The sanctions in question were announced on 20 August by U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who stated they would be “the ‌toughest sanctions in history” on Iran, under the umbrella of ‘Economic D-Day’ for the country. The direct sanctions on Iran aim for the complete financial isolation and economic shutdown of the regime by cutting off all domestic and international revenue streams. To this end, the U.S. Treasury blacklisted five core sectors of Iran's economy -- Digital Assets/Crypto, Technology, Gold, Aviation, and Shipping -- making any business operating within them subject to immediate asset freezes. At the same time, all longstanding humanitarian, academic, athletic, and personal remittance exemptions were indefinitely suspended, including a complete ban on non-commercial family money transfers and joint research collaborations. In parallel with this, the state-run Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) and commercial aviation fleets were put under a strict operational embargo, cutting off access to foreign ports, refuelling, and aircraft spare parts. Immediate asset freezes were also levied against procurement networks, cyber warfare units, and business syndicates tied to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
  Related: Solar Has Crossed a Critical Economic Tipping Point
  
  In tandem with this, the U.S. Treasury, along with sister organisations, will fully utilise secondary sanctions to force foreign governments and companies to choose between trading with Iran or trading with the U.S., under the umbrella of ‘Operation Economic Outcast’. This aims to target the complete financial isolation of Tehran by cutting off its remaining economic lifelines. To that end, the U.S. Treasury has already blacklisted nearly 60 entities, individuals, and vessels, focusing heavily on third-party facilitators in Hong Kong, mainland China, the UAE, Singapore, and Europe. The most potent weapon here for the U.S., as it has been for years, remains a ban on transgressors using the U.S. Dollar System, with any foreign bank that processes payments for Iranian oil or masks the origin of Iranian funds to be cut off from the U.S. financial system and banned from clearing transactions in U.S. dollars. Third-party companies (such as front companies and currency exchange houses in Dubai, Hong Kong, and Singapore) that facilitate Iranian trade will be added to the Office of Foreign Assets Control blacklist. Meanwhile, international maritime firms, insurers, ship managers, and port operators face severe financial penalties and asset freezes if they service or insure any blacklisted Iranian oil tankers. Ultimately, any and every foreign company that violates the rules is banned from exporting goods to the U.S. or partnering with American businesses.
  
  That said, China has repeatedly proven itself eminently capable of enduring such sanctions on Iran over a sustained period before, as thoroughly detailed in my latest book on the new global oil market order. This involves a mix of old, tried-and-trusted methods and brand-new tactical evolutions. In the former category lies the use of non-systemic commercial banks -- historically epitomised by the Bank of Kunlun -- that have zero exposure to Western assets or the U.S. dollar. These serve solely to clear oil payments in local currency. Another is the use of small, independent, regional refiners (‘teapots’), which also have zero international operations. Finally, there are the mechanisms inherent in the full terms of the ‘Iran-China 25-Year Comprehensive Cooperation Agreement’, as first revealed anywhere in the world in my 3 September 2019 article and analysed in full in my latest book on the new global oil market order, which includes swap arrangements involving Iranian oil for Chinese infrastructure, industrial goods, and technology agreements. Perhaps the most effective among the newer measures is the scaling up of China’s Cross-Border Interbank Payment System. It means the system now runs on completely independent, Chinese-hosted secure messaging infrastructure that acts as a true alternative to SWIFT, effectively making transactions invisible to the U.S. Treasury. In parallel with this, China and Iran are utilising state-sanctioned digital tokens and decentralised finance liquidity pools to mask oil payments at an unprecedented rate.
  
  China also has broader levers available to it to be able to regard the U.S.’s latest sanctions initiative with a modicum of interest and perhaps amusement only, rather than alarm. For a start, it controls around 85% of global rare earth processing and over 98% of heavy rare earths. Without Chinese rare earths, the U.S. cannot build its advanced military hardware, run high-tech manufacturing, or execute its green energy transition. After Trump launched his sweeping ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs on 2 April -- including on China -- Beijing had no hesitation in retaliating with a bureaucratic chokehold that forced exporters to obtain strict state licences, which Beijing then systematically delayed or denied to halt shipments of critical heavy elements to the U.S. This is one key reason that Washington has hesitated to fully sever China’s Tier-1 banks from the U.S. dollar system. Another is that China has emerged as the key ‘swing player’ in the global oil market since the U.S. launched ‘Operation Epic Fury’ just over six months ago. Rather than effecting major oil price changes through the supply side -- as Saudi Arabia, OPEC, and the U.S. have done in the past -- China has done the same by huge reductions in its demand. More specifically, China cut its crude oil purchases by up to 5.8 million barrels per day (bpd) -- or about 50% -- from a 2025 baseline of near-12 million bpd down to approximately 7 million bpd by June 2026. This on its own shaved an estimated US$30+ per barrel off Brent crude prices, according to market analysis. It did this primarily by drawing down on its estimated 1.5 billion-barrel stored crude reserves and banning refined fuel exports, thereby reducing its daily take from the global oil supply. Although such measures did not keep the oil price in the ‘Trump Oil Price Range’, as examined in my latest book on the global oil markets, it did reduce it to levels that mitigated the enormous economic pain for several Western countries -- including the U.S. -- that would have resulted otherwise. Its stance on maintaining such activities can change just as fast as it began.
  
  As the biggest buyer of Iranian oil -- over 80% of the Islamic Republic’s shipped oil, at the huge discounts mandated in the landmark 25-Year Deal -- China made clear through its foreign ministry spokesman, Lin Jian, last week that it will protect its interests against what it calls “illegal unilateral sanctions”. He added that it will take “all necessary measures” to safeguard its rights, and that: “Cooperation between China and Iran has always been conducted within the framework of international law and should not be interfered with or disrupted.” In terms of how the U.S. might target China for doing business with Iran, Treasury Secretary Bessent said: “We are confident that everyone wants the Strait (of Hormuz) reopened, and for energy prices to come back down, […] Keep in mind that the Chinese get 50% (of their) energy from inside the Gulf, so it would do them a big service to get with the program.” Given that China has continued to supply Iran with technology and equipment that have been used in its ongoing war with the U.S. regardless of any fear over U.S. censure, it is difficult to see precisely what pressure may be brought to bear on Beijing in Trump’s meeting with Xi in September. Perhaps the answer lies in some sort of understanding to be reached on U.S. actions in Iran against China’s interest in Taiwan. After all, according to former CIA Director William Burns, Xi has ordered his military to be ready to launch a successful invasion of Taiwan by 2027. Source: Oilprice.com
- 2026-09-01
  Chevron, ONGC and GE Vernova Near Final Venezuela Energy Deals
  Chevron, India’s ONGC, GE Vernova, Eni and GeoPark are preparing to sign final energy agreements in Venezuela, bringing new foreign investment into the country’s oilfields and power infrastructure, Reuters reported Monday, citing five sources close to... Read more Chevron, India’s ONGC, GE Vernova, Eni and GeoPark are preparing to sign final energy agreements in Venezuela, bringing new foreign investment into the country’s oilfields and power infrastructure, Reuters reported Monday, citing five sources close to the preparations.
  
  Venezuela has spent the past six months rewriting existing oil contracts under its amended hydrocarbons law, giving foreign companies more operational flexibility over fields previously dominated by PDVSA.
  
  The new terms allow companies to export their own crude and receive the proceeds directly, a major departure from the state-controlled model that governed the industry for decades. Several of those contracts are now ready for signature, along with separate agreements covering new oil and power projects.
  
  Chevron’s agreements are expected to be “of significant size,” according to one Reuters source. The U.S. major is seeking an additional block in the Orinoco Belt that would allow one of its joint ventures with PDVSA to expand, as well as an area in northern Monagas that could supply diluents needed for Venezuela’s extra-heavy crude.
  
  ONGC is preparing to invest about $200 million in the San Cristobal field, where the Indian state producer is targeting a tenfold increase in production. Venezuela has also recently signed agreements with SLB and Hunt Oil as Caracas tries to rebuild an industry that still requires enormous amounts of foreign capital after years of underinvestment.
  
  The agreements are separate from the much larger U.S.-Venezuela pact announced last week covering stakes in 17 oilfields with about 64 billion barrels of proved reserves, according to Reuters. Washington had previously been negotiating direct ownership in selected Venezuelan fields under an earlier proposal involving roughly 90 billion barrels.
  
  Chevron maintained operations in Venezuela through the Maduro years, but ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips have yet to return to operating oilfields as negotiations over fiscal terms and legal protections continue. Smaller operators have moved more quickly, with SLB and Hunt among the companies signing agreements in recent months. Source: Oilprice.com
- 2026-09-01
  BP Adds 80 MMcf/d to Egypt’s Gas Supply Two Years Ahead of Schedule
  Roughly two years ahead of schedule, BP has started production from the Fayoum-4 well in Egypt’s West Nile Delta, adding around 80 million cubic feet per day of natural gas to a market where declining domestic production has forced Cairo back into large-scale... Read more Roughly two years ahead of schedule, BP has started production from the Fayoum-4 well in Egypt’s West Nile Delta, adding around 80 million cubic feet per day of natural gas to a market where declining domestic production has forced Cairo back into large-scale LNG imports, Egyptian media reported on Monday.
  
  Fayoum-4 was connected to BP’s existing West Nile Delta processing facilities through the Giza-Fayoum pipeline, eliminating the need for new subsea infrastructure. BP operates the facilities with an 82.75% interest, while Harbour Energy holds the remaining 17.25%.
  
  BP discovered Fayoum during its 2025 exploration campaign and later drilled a sidetrack from the existing well to reach new Messinian reservoir layers at a depth of around 3,000 meters. Using the existing well, pipeline and processing facilities allowed BP to move first production forward by about two years.
  
  Egypt needs the additional gas, with domestic production falling sharply since its 2021 peak, forcing the country to abandon its position as a net LNG exporter and spend billions of dollars securing imported cargoes. Years of unpaid bills to international oil and gas companies contributed to the decline by discouraging investment and slowing drilling. Cairo has since paid down billions of dollars in arrears as it tries to bring producers back to the fields and reverse the production losses.
  
  BP plans to invest around $1.5 billion in Egyptian natural gas exploration and development during the 2026/27 fiscal year. Petroleum Minister Karim Badawi announced the investment in March as BP prepared a five-well Mediterranean drilling campaign that included Fayoum-4.
  
  The start of production follows BP’s decision to put part of its Egyptian portfolio up for sale. Energean entered exclusive negotiations last week to acquire BP interests in producing West Nile Delta assets and its 50% contractor interest in the Temsah concession in a transaction that could raise about $1 billion. BP would retain its assets held through Arcius Energy, its joint venture with Abu Dhabi’s XRG, including its interest in the giant Zohr gas field. Source: Oilprice.com
- 2026-09-01
  Europe Gas Prices Jump 5% to Highest Level Since 2023
  European benchmark natural gas prices jumped by 5% in early morning trade on Monday as the re-escalation of hostilities between the United States and Iran intensified concerns about LNG supply from the Middle East. The benchmark price at the Dutch... Read more European benchmark natural gas prices jumped by 5% in early morning trade on Monday as the re-escalation of hostilities between the United States and Iran intensified concerns about LNG supply from the Middle East.
  
  The benchmark price at the Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TTF) soared by 5% in morning trade in Amsterdam, and the price topped 70 euros, or $81.20, per megawatt-hour (MWh), after the U.S. and Iran resumed trading strikes for the first time in more than a month.
  
  This was the highest price the front-month benchmark futures have seen in more than three and a half years, since January 2023.
  
  Oil prices also soared, by 3.6% in the morning in Europe, amid heightened market concerns that the re-escalation could unwind much of the rebound in oil volumes that are estimated to have left the Persian Gulf via the Strait of Hormuz in recent weeks.
  
  The renewed hostilities and the still blocked Strait of Hormuz for LNG traffic is tightening global gas markets, where Asia and Europe are competing for a shrinking pool of supply to fill storage ahead of the coming winter.
  
  Europe is heading for the winter with one of the lowest levels of gas in storage in the past two decades as the war in the Middle East crippled LNG supply from Qatar, sent gas and LNG prices in Europe and Asia skyrocketing, and intensified competition for readily available global LNG cargoes that don't need to cross geopolitically charged chokepoints.
  
  The return of hostilities on Monday and last week's announcement from Qatar that it is extending the force majeure on its LNG deliveries to customers by one month through October are pushing Europe's gas prices higher at the start of this week.
  
  LNG traffic at the Strait of Hormuz remains at a standstill, even though oil flows are estimated to have rebounded in recent weeks.
  
  Unlike crude oil, LNG cannot be shuttle-shipped through Hormuz and then reloaded via a ship-to-ship (STS) transfer, as Persian Gulf producers, including Qatar, have been doing in recent months to ship oil to customers.
  
  Source: Oilprice.com
- 2026-09-01
  China Coking Coal Prices Set for Record 46% Monthly Surge
  Supply issues have been tightening the Chinese coking coal market for months, pushing the price of the key steelmaking raw material a record 46% in August alone, the biggest surge on record. Coking coal futures on China’s Dalian exchange were rising... Read more Supply issues have been tightening the Chinese coking coal market for months, pushing the price of the key steelmaking raw material a record 46% in August alone, the biggest surge on record.
  
  Coking coal futures on China’s Dalian exchange were rising by 6% on Monday afternoon local time amid persistent supply issues following the mining disaster in May and increased safety checks on other Chinese mines.
  
  But more importantly, the futures were on track to post a record-setting 46% monthly surge, the biggest on record since the Dalian coking coal futures began trading in 2013, data compiled by Bloomberg showed.
  
  The price rally in August is eclipsing the previous record for a monthly jump, of 38% back in July 2025.
  
  The surge in coking coal prices has spilled outside China. Steelmakers in India, the world’s second-largest steelmaker after China, have seen a squeeze in their margins due to the rallying input prices.
  
  India relies on imports for as much as 95% of its coking coal, or metallurgical coal, demand. Metallurgical coal is a grade of coal that is one of the essential raw materials in the steelmaking process. Also known as met coal, this type of coal contains more carbon, less ash and less moisture than thermal coal, which is used for electricity generation.
  
  The price of premium coking coal freight on board (FOB) in Australia surged by 25% in the first seven months of this year compared to last year due to a series of supply disruptions.
  
  The price increase has been the result of slower ramp-up of new mines, higher prices due to the Iran war, supply disruptions at key producer Australia, and the deadly coal mine explosion in China’s Shanxi province that killed more than 80 people in the worst Chinese mining accident in years.
  
  “Steelmaking coal prices strengthened from CY2025 levels as strong Indian import demand and supply disruptions tightened an otherwise balanced seaborne market,” mining giant BHP said in its Economic and commodity outlook earlier this month. Source: Oilprice.com
- 2026-09-01
  Iran Dismisses Trump Claim of Kharg Attack as Hostilities Return
  Iran on Monday dismissed as “laughable” a Truth Social AI-generated post by U.S. President Donald Trump that the key Iranian oil export hub of Kharg Island is “being blown to smithereens”, as tensions in the Middle East boiled up again with U.S. attacks... Read more Iran on Monday dismissed as “laughable” a Truth Social AI-generated post by U.S. President Donald Trump that the key Iranian oil export hub of Kharg Island is “being blown to smithereens”, as tensions in the Middle East boiled up again with U.S. attacks and Iranian claims of retaliatory strikes.
  
  President Trump late on Sunday posted an AI-generated video on his Truth Social platform, with the caption “Kharg Island being blown to smithereens!!! President DJT”.
  
  In response to the post, Iran on Monday said, via Hamid Bovard, chief executive of government-run National Iranian Oil Company, “Trump’s tweets are laughable and conditions in Kharg are calm and appropriate.”
  
  Kharg Island, a small coral island in the northern Persian Gulf, handles about 90% of all oil exports from Iran. But as of Monday, there was no evidence that the island had been bombed or damaged in any way.
  
  Nevertheless, the beginning of this week marked the resumption of strikes for the first time in several weeks, as U.S. forces struck Iran for the first time in over a month, and Iran later retaliated by targeting U.S. bases in Jordan.
  
  U.S. forces struck two Iranian rocket launchers on Larak Island, which sits inside the Strait of Hormuz. According to a U.S. Central Command spokesperson, the attack came after the IRGC were observed “preparing to launch rockets with sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz.”
  
  As a result, oil prices jumped in early Monday trade in Asia.
  
  The Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) vowed “response and punishment” in retaliation for the first U.S. strikes in weeks, which Iran says claimed two lives and injured two other people.
  
  Iran later claimed it had struck two U.S. air bases in Jordan in response to the attack on Larak.
  
  On Monday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying that “Iran's armed forces will not hesitate to exercise the inherent right of self-defence" and will respond decisively and appropriately to any enemy military aggression. Source: Oilprice.com

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