Reserve News

Gas majors including Shell and Chevron warned Australia against introducing a windfall tax on gas exporters, saying it would deter investment and undermine energy security as LNG prices surge amid disruption caused by the Iran war.Australia became the world's second-largest LNG supplier after Iranian strikes forced Qatar to halt production, with its export revenue set to surge due to lower supply caused by the conflict.Canberra is weighing options to capitalise on the higher prices…

Oil prices slid about 4% on Wednesday on reports that the U.S. had sent Iran a 15-point proposal aimed at ending the war, prompting talk of progress toward a ceasefire.Brent futures fell 3.96, or 3.8%, to $100.53 a barrel at 10:41 a.m. EDT (1441 GMT), while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell $3.57, or 3.9%, to $88.78.Pakistan has delivered a U.S. proposal to Iran, and either Pakistan or Turkey could be a venue for discussions to de-escalate the war, a senior Iranian…

Oil prices dropped about 8% on Monday after U.S. President Donald Trump said he would postpone any military strikes against Iranian power plants for five days and cited constructive talks to resolve hostilities in the Middle East, hours before a deadline that threatened to escalate the four-week-old war.Brent futures fell $8.92, or 8.0%, to $103.27 a barrel at 12:31 p.m. EDT (1631 GMT), while U.S. West Texas Intermediate lost $7.17, or 7.3%, to $91.06.Extreme price changes in…

Global oil prices have not climbed enough to cause demand destruction, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said on Monday at the CERAWeek energy conference in Houston, Texas, even as markets continued to gyrate and global oil prices remained near $100 a barrel due to the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.The world is enduring one of the worst energy crises in decades following the closure of a key shipping channel and attacks on energy infrastructure in the Middle East that have caused long-term damage. Oil prices have climbed to multi-year highs and fuel prices in the U.S.

The U.S. may soon remove sanctions from Iranian oil that is stranded on tankers to help lift global supplies and reduce prices, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Thursday."In the coming days, we may unsanction the Iranian oil that's on the water. It's about 140 million barrels," Bessent told Fox Business Network's "Mornings with Maria" program."So, depending on how you count it, that's 10 days to two weeks of supply," he added.Bessent said the addition of sanctioned Iranian oil into global supplies would help keep oil prices down for the next 10 to 14 days.

The Trump administration on Wednesday announced a 60-day waiver of the Jones Act shipping law, temporarily allowing foreign-flagged vessels to move fuel, fertilizer and other goods between U.S. ports as soaring energy and agricultural prices strain supply chains amid the ongoing conflict in and around Iran.White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said the waiver represents "another step to mitigate the short-term disruptions to the oil market as the U.S. military continues meeting the objectives of Operation Epic Fury."The waiver…

The United States issued a 30-day license for countries to buy Russian oil and petroleum products currently stranded at sea in what Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said was a step to stabilize global energy markets roiled by the Iran war.The announcement comes a day after the U.S. Energy Department said that the U.S. would be releasing 172 million barrels of oil from the strategic petroleum reserve in an effort to curb sky-rocketing oil prices in the wake of the war in Iran.That…

The International Energy Agency on Wednesday agreed to release a record 400 million barrels of oil from strategic stockpiles to combat a spike in global crude prices since the start of the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, with the U.S. contributing the bulk of the supply.The IEA said all 32 member countries backed the move, the sixth coordinated stockpile release since the agency's creation in the 1970s. The United States will take a lead role by contributing 172 million barrels, according to U.S.

G7 energy ministers stopped short of agreeing on a release of strategic oil reserves on Tuesday and instead asked the International Energy Agency to assess the situation before acting.The IEA said it was convening an extraordinary meeting of its member states on Tuesday.Members would "assess the current security of supply and market conditions to inform a subsequent decision on whether to make emergency stocks of IEA countries available to the market," IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said."We have asked the IEA to elaborate scenarios for a potential oil stock release…

U.S. President Donald Trump is considering easing oil sanctions on Russia and releasing emergency crude stockpiles as part of a package of options aimed at curbing spiking global oil prices amid the Iran conflict, according to multiple sources.The deliberations reflect White House worries that the surge in oil prices following more than a week of U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran will hurt U.S. businesses and consumers ahead of the November midterm elections, when Trump's fellow…

Governments scrambled to limit the impact on economies and consumers from the widening Iran war, which fuelled a record surge in oil prices on Monday after key producers cut output and Tehran signalled that hardliners would remain in charge.In a sign of mounting governmental concern over supply disruptions, the Group of Seven finance ministers will discuss the possibility of a joint release of emergency oil reserves in a meeting on Monday, a French government source said.In South Korea…

The U.S. Navy could begin escorting oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz if necessary, President Donald Trump said on Tuesday, adding he had ordered the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation to provide political risk insurance and financial guarantees for maritime trade in the Gulf.The move marks one of the administration’s most aggressive steps yet to attempt to contain soaring energy prices amid escalating conflict in the Middle East that has raised risks to shipping through key waterways.Global crude prices have spiked since Israeli and U.S.

President Donald Trump will review a set of policy options on Tuesday aimed at controlling energy prices during the escalating Middle East conflict, including a proposal for the U.S. government to help oil tankers in the region obtain insurance, two sources said.Global crude prices have spiked since Israeli and U.S. forces began striking Iran over the weekend, leading to fighting that has interrupted Middle East oil tanker shipments.Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Energy…

The U.S. and Israeli air war against Iran widened on Monday, with no end in sight as Israel attacked Lebanon in response to strikes by Hezbollah and Tehran kept up its missile and drone attacks on Gulf states that host U.S. military bases.U.S. President Donald Trump said the operation could continue for some weeks and that it was unclear who was in charge in Iran, following the targeted killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the opening hours of the U.S.-Israel campaign over the weekend.The attack on Iran has pitched the Gulf into war…

The U.S. Coast Guard has accepted delivery of the 62nd Fast Response Cutter, USCGC Vincent Danz (WPC 1162), in Key West.Danz was serving in the New York City Police Department, Emergency Services Unit, ESU Truck 3, when he responded to the World Trade Center as part of a massive emergency response and was killed when the World Trade Center collapsed. He was posthumously awarded the New York City Police Department’s Medal of Honor for his heroic deeds. His actions that day embodied the Coast Guard's core values of honor…

The European Commission sees no short-term risk to the security of oil supplies in Hungary or Slovakia following the disruption of Russian oil flows via Ukraine because both EU countries have ample emergency stocks, a Commission spokesperson said on Tuesday.Slovakia's government also said its domestic fuel supply was not under threat, alleviating fears of an immediate fuel crunch after Kyiv's foreign ministry last week said a Russian attack on a Ukrainian pipeline was responsible…

McQuilling Services has released its 29th anniversary edition, 2026-2030 Tanker Market Outlook with the theme: “You Can’t See the Forest for the Trees.”The report frames the outlook for crude tankers over the next five years. Structural forces (the “forest”) including: 1) macroeconomic conditions, 2) a weakening US dollar, 3) a commodity price super cycle, 4) emerging market oil demand, and 5) global shipyard capacity constraints are expected to dominate market direction. Geopolitical…

Coal-fired power generation decreased 1.9% in 2025; non-fossil generation outpaces demand growthChina's coal-fired power generation decreased 1.9% in 2025, marking a historic shift driven by new non-fossil generation that has finally outpaced demand growth, according to a recent report from Wood Mackenzie.Power demand grew 5% in China in 2025, or 494 TWh, yet for the first time in a decade, coal-fired power generation did not increase to help meet this demand. Instead, the incremental demand was met by carbon-free generation…

Oil prices climbed about 3% to a five-month high on Thursday on rising concerns that global supplies could be disrupted if the U.S. decides to attack Iran, one of the biggest crude producers in OPEC.Brent futures rose $2.10, or 3.1%, to $70.50 a barrel by 11:07 a.m. EST (1607 GMT), while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) gained $2.09, or 3.3%, to $65.30.That pushed both crude benchmarks into technically overbought territory and put Brent on track for its highest close since July 31 and WTI on track for its highest close since September 26.U.S.

The U.S. Department of Energy is exploring a plan to exchange heavy Venezuelan oil for U.S. medium, sour crude to fill up the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, two sources said on Friday.The Trump administration is looking to move the Venezuelan crude into storage tanks at the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port from where the crude can be shipped to refineries. In exchange for the Venezuelan crude, companies will provide U.S. medium sour crude that can go directly into SPR storage, two sources said.Exchanges have been used in the past by the government to release and acquire oil.

Most stock markets in the Gulf ended higher on Monday, helped by rising oil prices and positive market sentiment amid growing expectations of additional Federal Reserve rate cuts.Oil prices - a catalyst for the Gulf's financial markets - rose after the U.S. intercepted an oil tanker in international waters off the coast of Venezuela and tensions in Russia's war against Ukraine remained high, both of which raised fears of supply disruptions.Saudi Arabia's benchmark index gained 0.7%…

Fincantieri Marinette Marine (FMM) appointed former U.S. ambassador to Norway and the 77th Secretary of the Navy, Kenneth J. Braithwaite, as Chairman of their Board of Directors. Braithwaite brings a career in defense and public service to the role, as well as deep Navy ties. He is a 1984 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and earned a master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania. His active naval service included time as a naval aviator flying anti-submarine missions in the Pacific and Arctic…

China said on Friday it had driven away a Philippine aircraft and multiple vessels near disputed atolls in South China Sea, in the latest in a series of confrontations in the strategic waterway in recent years.The Chinese military said it issued strong warnings and "expelled" a Philippine aircraft that "invaded" airspace above the Scarborough Shoal, without giving a date for the incident.China claims almost the entire South China Sea, overlapping the exclusive economic zones of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam.