Transportation

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.

Rising oil prices lifted Qatar's export revenues to a three-year high in Q2. Central Bank data shows Doha recorded a budget surplus for the first time since 2015 in Q1.

US majors ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips both made clear statements of intent in their Q2 earnings calls this week that...

Federal Iraq exported a record 3.543mn b/d in July – all from its southern Basra infrastructure. Even with the...

Japan imported a 300,000 cargo (9,600 b/d) of Omani West Bukha crude in May, the first time it has...

Saudi Arabian oil exports amounted to a massive $20bn in May according to the kingdom’s latest trade statistics. This...

The debt-ridden sultanate’s economic fortunes are on the up thanks to higher oil prices and increased products exports. Its budget deficit for Jan-May is down 46%.

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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