Oil
Oil pulls back as IEA cuts demand, brent sells below $100 per barrel
The IEA’s drastic slashing of 2026 global demand growth and the awkward lull in US-Iran confrontation have pushed oil prices lower so far this week, with ICE Brent back at trading several dollars below the $100 per barrel mark. Unless the US blockade of the Arabian Sea turns to a kinetic phase over the upcoming days, the second round of Islamabad talks will be shaping the futures curve of crude oil.
US oil major Chevron (NYSE:CVX) will increase its stake in Venezuela’s Petroindependencia project from 34% to 49%, whilst also getting an unspecified stake in the newly formed Ayacucho joint venture with PDVSA, boosting its outlook profile in the country, OilPrice.com reports.
According to the International Energy Agency, global oil demand will contract this year by 80,000 b/d, the first annual decline in consumption since the COVID-19 peak year of 2020, down more than 700,000 b/d compared to last month’s forecast.
Saudi state oil firm Saudi Aramco (TADAWUL:2222) has received the lowest volume of monthly nominations from Chinese term buyers in history, with only 18 million barrels of China-bound oil expected to load in May, dropping by 750,000 b/d from April.
Benefitting from a reputation boost after the US-Iran war has largely left its upstream industry unscathed, the government of Oman is now offering 5 concession areas in the eastern and central parts of the Middle Eastern country, covering a total of 53,275 km2.
China’s crude oil imports averaged 11.77 million b/d in March, only 2.8% lower year-over-year despite the loss of most Middle Eastern supplies, even though refinery utilization rates have dipped below 70%
The Philippines’ Ministry of Energy has asked the US Treasury Department for a waiver to continue importing Russian crude oil and petroleum products, claiming that the country needs more ‘options’ to maintain stable energy supplies.
The Indian government said that it had ‘good contacts’ with Iranian authorities on potential passage of Indian ships via the Strait of Hormuz, after at least 8 India-flagged vessels have managed to leave the Persian Gulf since the US-Iran war started.
BP’s new chief executive Meg O’Neill is considering splitting the UK-based energy giant into two units, creating a business focused solely on oil and gas exploration and another covering refining, distribution and retail operations.
An Iran-linked but Chinese-owned tanker carrying methanol to China became the first ship moving out of the Persian Gulf to breach the Trump administration’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, lowering risks of immediate escalation in the seas.
The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank launched a joint call against hoarding energy supplies and imposing export controls on commodities, claiming protectionist measures exacerbate the impact of the Hormuz Strait closure.
Brazil’s state oil company Petrobras (NYSE:PBR) is reportedly in initial talks with Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund Mubadala to repurchase the 300,000 b/d Mataripe refinery, sold five years ago for $1.7 billion, claiming it is running at only 60% of its capacity.
India’s largest state-owned refiner IOC purchased the country’s first Iranian oil cargo in seven years, with the Curacao-flagged Jaya tanker delivering 2 million barrels of oil to the port of Odisha, with privately owned Reliance taking a similar VLCC cargo to Sikka.
Following the loss of Qatari helium supply for the next 1-2 years, the global chipmaking industry is facing shortages of a key component for chip lithography as Russia has imposed export controls, potentially taking 10% of global supply off the market.
Copper prices climbed to their highest in more than a month after Iran confirmed its readiness for second-round negotiations with the United States, with the benchmark three-month ME contract trading above $13,180/tonne on hopes of a potential deal.
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