Category: Finance

Middle East Escalation Meets China’s Return: Dual Chokepoints, Record Tanker Rates, and an Upward Spiral in Crude and Products

Clark Savage738

The Middle East energy map tightened sharply over the past week even as China resumed heavier crude buying. Houthi forces seized key Red Sea positions including Mocha and Perim Island, tightening control over the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and targeting Saudi-linked vessels. Drones originating from Iraq struck Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline, prompting a precautionary shutdown of […]

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Diesel and Refining Capacity Set to be the Inflationary Impact The Fed Can’t Control

Clark Savage1003

The Federal Reserve can raise rates. The Treasury can issue bills. Neither institution can weld a crude distillation unit back together after a drone strike, add inches to a California products pipeline, or refill Gatun Lake. That is the story of September 2026: crude is still findable; diesel is not. The constraint has moved downstream, […]

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U.S. fuel prices have climbed to their highest levels since the Iran war began in late February, with diesel setting fresh all-time records and wholesale costs now exceeding the peaks seen before the first ceasefires.

Clark Savage596

How high they go from here, and how long they stay elevated, depends less on crude alone than on a global refining system that is already running near its limits. Energy analyst John Kemp noted Wednesday that the combined cost of U.S. crude and refining margins is now higher than in early April. So far […]

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Canada’s Tariff Strategy Designed To Interfere With U.S. Midterm Elections. How many jobs will be sacrificed for Carney to win?

Clark Savage766

Late last month, Prime Minister Mark Carney pulled Canadian negotiators from the table and walked away from what the White House called the most preferential market access any country had received. The United States had proposed deep cuts on steel, aluminum, autos, lumber, and more. Carney rejected it. On September 8, Canada’s dollar-for-dollar retaliatory tariffs […]

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China Crude Buying Jumps, and Fuel Exports Jump 29% – Jeff Curry is Spot On. It’s about the lack of refining capacity.

Clark Savage578

Chinese refiners are stepping back into the crude market while flooding product markets with extra gasoline and diesel, just as the rest of the world is running short of both barrels and refining capacity. August data show crude imports rising 6.2% from July to 8.93 million barrels per day, while refined product exports jumped 29% […]

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