OPEC & Global Markets

Bahrain’s virgin LNG import project is making key progress towards hitting its 1Q 2019 start-up target. Bermuda-registered Teekay LNG, the...

Saudi Arabia’s brief suspension of oil shipments through the Red Sea shipping lane of Bab al-Mandeb has ended, Energy...

Key Japanese buyer Jera will slash volumes of Abu Dhabi LNG by 90% when its current 25-year contract ends next year. Japan's overall LNG imports are falling.

Iran's oil exports to key buyers in Asia have so far stayed strong, but shipping data indicates that its third largest buyer South Korea has now halted purchases ahead of looming US sanctions. After a strong May, Asian imports fell to a 12-month low in June and worse is to come.

LNG liquefaction expansions will hit a record 43-44mn t/y this and next year. But a dearth of recent FIDs mean expansion will then slow dramatically.

As rhetoric heats up, the Strait of Hormuz chokepoint is attracting concern that regional oil exports could be shut off. Riyadh’s ‘Plan B’ relies on the Bab al-Mandeb strait where Yemen’s Houthis this week attacked Aramco tankers. Egypt’s Suez Canal revenue is also threatened.

• Egypt’s Suez Canal notched up revenues of $1.484bn in the second quarter of 2018, a record quarterly...

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Saudi Arabian products exports were the third highest on record in May, but were unable to offset an unexpected...

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The Satorp joint venture of state firm Saudi Aramco and French major Total has recently expanded the refinery’s crude...