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Why African Oil Cannot Solve the Global Fuel Crisis

Africa offers importers alternatives to Middle Eastern crude, but aging oil fields, thin refining capacity, and rising domestic demand limit how much relief it can provide. As the conflict in the Middle East continues, governments and energy companies are increasingly searching for alternative sources of crude oil and refined petroleum products. Africa is home to several established oil producers and is an attractive region for buyers seeking to diversify imports. However, African energy suppliers can only do so much to alleviate the current fuel crisis. African countries such as Nigeria, Angola, Libya, and Algeria have long supplied crude oil to international markets, and their geographical positions offer alternative shipping routes that do not depend on the Strait of Hormuz. Amid the crisis in the Middle East, African exporters could become important to countries seeking to reduce their exposure to the region. However, ...

Physical Crude Oil “Desensitized” While Futures Remain in Panic: Amid U.S.-Iran Tensions, Who Is Paying for “Resilience” Behind the Oil Price Gap?

Recently, a key Middle Eastern crude oil benchmark has fallen to its lowest level in nearly three months. This appears to signal a development more significant than the oil price itself: while geopolitical risks continue to inflate futures pricing, the logistical resilience of physical Gulf crude has substantially undermined the ability to weaponize the Strait of Hormuz in the event of a U.S.-Iran conflict. Data from index provider General Index shows that the premium of Oman crude over Dubai crude — the most direct indicator of the strength of the Gulf's spot crude market — dropped to around $4 per barrel this week, its lowest level since late July. In the early stages of the conflict, when the Strait of Hormuz was nearly closed, this spread once surged to over $60 per barrel. The magnitude of this spread's collapse undoubtedly raises a ...

Saudi authorities say 2 killed by falling debris at oil facility following a drone attack in Kingdom

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Saudi Arabia's Energy Ministry said Wednesday that debris from an intercepted drone killed two people and injured two others at an Aramco-operated oil field in the country's southeast. The ministry said the two people killed were Nepali and Filipino nationals, while the injured were Pakistani and Indian nationals. The falling debris also sparked a fire in a contractor's vehicle at the Shaybah oil field, the ministry said in a statement. Saudi Arabia has seen multiple attacks on its airports and oil facilities launched by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels. Last month, debris from an intercepted Houthi drone killed a Yemeni resident of Saudi Arabia. It was the first civilian casualty since the Houthis increased their attacks against the kingdom, targeting Saudi shipping and oil facilities. Earlier this month, a limited fire broke out in an administrative building at Aramco, one of ...

US seeking to re-open shuttered oil refineries

The US is looking at “some opportunities” to help re-open refineries that have been shut within the past decade, secretary of energy Chris Wright said today. The administration is engaging with every refinery that has been shut in the last 10 years “to find what’s the most practical one to get a refinery up and running” to increase fuel production and lower prices, he said on the sidelines of an event in Houston, Texas. The talks include the most recent US refinery to shut down, Valero’s 145,000 b/d Benicia refinery in California, but “that’s a tough challenge” because of the difficult business environment in that state, Wright said. Two other large US refineries have shut within the past two years — Phillips 66’s 139,000 b/d Los Angeles refining complex and LyondellBasell’s 264,000 b/d refinery in Houston, Texas. The US administration’s efforts to ...

Morgan Stanley: Global Fuel Market Will Stay Tight Through Mid-2027

Global fuel markets are set to remain tight until at least the middle of next year as the second quarter of 2027 will see unusually high planned maintenance that refiners have deferred from this year, Morgan Stanley analysts say. Planned maintenance at refineries worldwide is set to peak at 3.4 million barrels per day (bpd) in the second quarter of 2027, as many facilities will be overdue for maintenance after currently running at maximum capacity utilization. In recent months, many refiners have postponed scheduled outages to keep fuels flowing in a tight market with record-high refining margins. The expected drop in refinery utilization in the second quarter of next year would be two and a half times the usual capacity taken offline by spring maintenance globally, and is more than the capacity in the Middle East and Russia that's currently offline, Morgan ...

USA to Tap National Diesel Reserve

The Trump administration is tapping an emergency reserve of diesel set aside to heat homes in the Northeast as fuel prices are surging weeks before the midterm elections. The Energy Department plans to loan 315,000 barrels from the 1 million barrel Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve, according to a statement Wednesday. Deliveries are scheduled to be completed by Nov. 13. "This is a temporary measure to solve a temporary supply disruption," Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in the statement. The average price of diesel, which has hit record highs during the Iran war, is about $6.32 a gallon, according to AAA. About 4% of the nation's households use heating oil, including in Maine, New Hampshire and Alaska — all of which are politically competitive. The diesel fuel reserve, housed in commercial storage facilities across the Northeast, was used in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy ...

Midterms Could Swing on Diesel

America runs on gasoline, but the midterms could swing on diesel. That's what Macquarie strategists, including Macquarie Energy Strategist Walt Chancellor, said in a Macquarie report sent to Rigzone recently, which flagged U.S. President Donald Trump's "recent sharp focus on diesel". "The U.S. consumer runs on gasoline," the strategists said in the report. "Accordingly, President Trump's recent sharp focus on diesel seems curious at first glance," they added. "Of course, record diesel prices are highly visible on American street corners, provide ample headline fodder, and make inflationary pressures tangible," they continued. "With prediction markets heavily leaning toward a Democratic flip of the House, the Senate likely decides control of Congress. Drilling in on the Senate, the importance of diesel begins to emerge," they went on to state. The strategists outlined in the report that control of the Senate could boil down to seven or eight "highly ...

Half of India’s coal plants run critically low on fuel as power demand surges

NEW DELHI, Oct 21 (Reuters) - Half of India's 191 coal-fired power plants are operating with critically low fuel stocks due to a surge in power demand amid hotter-than-usual weather linked to El Niño, government data showed. The number of power plants with critically low coal stocks — which only have enough fuel supply to generate power for less than three days — rose to 96 as of October 19 from 60 plants in mid-September, data from the Central Electricity Authority showed. The shortages are occurring even as India's coal ministry said last week that it has ramped up supplies to power plants. India's total coal stocks at power stations have fallen by about 5% since the beginning of the month, the data showed. Daily peak electricity demand this year has been running about 45 gigawatts to 50 GW higher than a year earlier, ...

UK approves Jackdaw gasfield in North Sea

The UK government has approved the controversial Jackdaw gasfield in the North Sea, a widely expected move that will nonetheless dismay environmental campaigners and a number of Labour MPs. While Labour's 2024 election manifesto committed to a ban on new drilling licences in the North Sea, the companies behind Jackdaw and the Rosebank oilfield project, which is being decided on separately, have sought environmental approval for existing licences. The companies resubmitted their applications for environmental approval earlier this year. The decision on Jackdaw had been expected last month but was delayed, seemingly to take it beyond the Holborn and St Pancras byelection on 8 October, where Labour was defending a seat against a Green challenge and ultimately won. The Jackdaw field will start supplying gas to homes and businesses from the end of the month, the government said after approving the scheme. Andy Burnham ...

Macron lines up more Gulf diesel as France battles soaring fuel prices

French President Emmanuel Macron has secured commitments for an extra 200,000 tonnes of diesel a month from the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, according to the French presidency. The Elysee Palace announced the deals on Tuesday, before the president landed in Qatar. His three-day Gulf tour, which also stops in Kuwait, follows a weekend of violent protests in France over the soaring cost of living, as the US-Iran war keeps energy prices high. The presidency said the UAE had committed to about 100,000 tonnes a month, while a further 100,000 tonnes monthly would be secured during Macron's visit to Bahrain. Together with deliveries from Saudi Arabia, France now has commitments for 295,000 tonnes a month, just over 10 percent of its consumption, it said. Kuwait has also given "very clear commitments" to deliver diesel and kerosene to the French overseas ...

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