24-hour energy shock the world wasn’t ready for

Events are escalating with unprecedented speed across the Middle East. Drone strikes on Saudi Arabia’s largest refinery, strikes on the world’s largest liquefaction facility in Qatar, the bombing of several tankers, widespread insurance policy cancellations – all that would be usually scattered across several months in a normal year; however, in 2026, that’s just one day’s worth of action.

With the Strait of Hormuz seeing no navigation for several days already, ICE Brent is up at $84 per barrel, and it could very well test the $90 per barrel if the pressure on Gulf producers increases.

OPEC+ Opted for Caution Amidst War Pressures. Members of OPEC+ agreed to a relatively modest oil production increase of 206,000 b/d for April 2026, defying the pressure to triple its usual monthly quota on fears that Iranian supply would be curtailed, just as the Strait of Hormuz was set to close.

Qatar’s state-owned QatarEnergy has halted production at its Ras Laffan liquefaction plant, the world’s largest LNG object, following reports that Iranian drones have targeted an ‘energy facility’ in Qatar as well as an adjacent power plant in Mesaieed, OilPrice.com reports.

Saudi Arabia’s largest refinery, the 550,000 b/d Ras Tanura plant on the country’s eastern coast, halted operations completely after a drone attack sparked a large fire on Monday morning, raising the risk of Saudi production shut-ins.

China’s leading private refiners Zhejiang Petrochemical and Fujian Refining, which both happen to be partially owned by Saudi Aramco, have announced curtailments in refinery operations rates in response to stalled crude oil deliveries from the Middle East.

Iran’s closure of the Hormuz Strait and the risk of seeing tankers struck or stranded in the Persian Gulf lifted freight rates for VLCC tankers to a new high, with a Gulf-to-China voyage now costing $89 per metric tonne, up 560% since early January.

Fears that Middle Eastern naphtha, a 1.2 million b/d stream mostly fed by the UAE and Qatar, could become stranded in the Persian Gulf have lifted Asian naphtha cracks to their highest since April 2022, reaching a $135 per tonne premium vs Brent.

Global price reporting agency S&P Global Platts has suspended bids and offers for some of its Middle Eastern crude, refined product, and LNG price assessments, allowing only Murban and Oman trades as all other grades load deep in the Gulf.

The Israeli Energy Ministry has ordered the temporary shutdown of the country’s offshore gas platforms, including the Chevron-operated (NYSE:CVX) Leviathan field that supplies 40% of the country’s gas needs, switching to alternative fuels.

Marine insurers are cancelling war risk coverage for tankers set to enter the Strait of Hormuz, with Gard, Skuld, NorthStandard, the London P&I Club, and the American Club collectively claiming they would fully cut coverage from March 5.

Canada’s midstream giant South Bow (TSE:SOBO), spun out of TC Energy in 2024, is reportedly seeking to revive the Keystone XL pipeline by re-routing it through Montana, potentially boosting Canada-to-US crude flows by another 550,000 b/d.

The government of Nigeria has broken up the OPL 245 offshore license block into four new assets operated by European majors ENI (BIT:ENI) and Shell (LON:SHEL), paving the way for the long-stalled development of Nigeria’s largest untapped field.

Following massive Iranian drone strikes on US military installations in Erbil, oil companies operating in the semi-autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan have started to shut in production, with Gulf Keystone and Shamaran shuttering 110,000 b/day of output.

Copper prices could be up for another supply disruption-driven price spike after widespread flooding caused the collapse of a bridge linking the Democratic Republic of Congo to Zambia, the main export conduit for its 3.5 mtpa exports.

Saudi Arabia’s state oil firm Saudi Aramco (TADAWUL:2222) has alerted its buyers that from now on, for an undefined period, it would only load crude oil tankers from its Red Sea port of Yanbu, sending oil to the west through its 5 million b/d East-West pipeline.

About The Author

Dele Fashomi

Dele Fashomi, seasoned journalist and communication teacher, is a holder of Master of Arts degree in Communication and Language Arts from the University of Ibadan in 1992/93.

Earlier, he had bagged a Bachelor degree from the same university in 1984, after which he proceeded to the Nigerian Institute of Journalism, Lagos, in 1990, for a postgraduate diploma in Journalism.

He had done many courses in communication, including the EU-BBC Editing Course in 2002.

Mr. Fashomi combines effectively the practice, research and teaching of communication. And to date, he has published two academic works in communication: Issues in Communication Technology and Policy (2010) and Economic and Social Issues in Advertising and PR (2013).

He had his first break in the Nigerian media in Concord Newspapers in 1990 and today, he has over two and half decades experience earned in several newspapers.

He has been part of many start-ups, such as The Republic (1987), The Comet (1999), The Anchor 2001 – 2002; Sun Newspapers (2003); Westerner newsmagazine (2005 – 2010) as Editor; National Life (2011) as Sunday Editor, and Newswatch Newspapers (2012- 2016) as Daily Editor.

Dele Fashomi is now the Publisher/Editor-in-Chief of Newstide247.com newspaper online, which he started in July 2015. He is also into biography writing, with many books in his trail, some of which he wrote alone and one he co- authored with his mentor, Mr Dare Babarinsa, entitled:  Olabiyi Durojaiye – DARE TO BE DiFFERENT. He also guided and collaborated with Pa Olatunji Odusanya in writing his autobiography – AGAINST ALL ODDS. There are many other books in the works under his pen.

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