The war is in its ninth month and the United States has never taken Kharg. It did not have to: the blockade drove Iranian seaborne crude to zero with no American ground casualties, which is exactly what a seizure was supposed to deliver. The question worth asking is not whether America could hold the island. […]
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A letter from the Vice President is the most senior American outreach to Tehran in months, and crude drifted lower on the news. The same reporting says Washington and Israel are still preparing a week of strikes after the Nov. 3 election. Both things are true, and the gap between them is what you are […]
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EIA’s October outlook has the U.S., Brazil, Guyana, Canada and Argentina adding barrels with no Gulf chokepoint in the way, while Hormuz flows collapsed and OPEC supply is forecast to drop by nearly a fifth. Illustrative AI-generated image of a generic offshore production vessel. No real vessel, facility or person is shown. For consumers, the […]
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Qatar, long the world’s LNG heavyweight, is shopping for American gas. On Thursday, Oct. 22, Cheniere and QatarEnergy signed deals for 4 million tonnes per year (Mtpa) of U.S. LNG through 2054. Later that day, Reuters reported QatarEnergy is in advanced talks to buy at least 3 Mtpa from Venture Global (NYSE: VG) on a […]
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The 2026 US-Iran war and the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz have delivered a sharp shock to the global helium market. Helium, extracted primarily as a byproduct of natural-gas processing, has no short-term substitutes in many critical applications. Qatar’s Ras Laffan complex—source of roughly one-third of world supply—saw production halted after Iranian strikes […]
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Brent closed Friday at $109.86 and the futures market prices $100 oil into spring. Gas costs about nine times more in Europe and Asia than at Henry Hub, the U.S. benchmark, coal demand is headed for a record, and five of the world’s eight oil chokepoints have trouble. Here is what it means for your […]
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A recent JPMorgan report titled “Food Security is National Security: A Compounding Storm,” led by senior global economist Nora Szentivanyi, has sounded the alarm on rising risks of elevated global food inflation into 2027. The bank projects food inflation accelerating from about 2.8% in the first half of 2026 to around 5% annualized in the […]
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Oil markets swung lower on Tuesday as Qatar and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent pointed to advancing mediation efforts aimed at a short-term arrangement between the United States and Iran, centered on reopening the Strait of Hormuz. The chokepoint, which normally handles roughly one-fifth of global oil and LNG supplies, has been heavily disrupted since […]
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A liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker loaded with Qatari cargo was struck by a projectile while transiting the Strait of Hormuz overnight, marking another escalation in attacks on critical energy shipping and raising fresh alarms about supply security for the world’s second-largest LNG exporter. Security consultancies Vanguard Tech and Marisks identified the vessel as the […]
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In the shadow of the ongoing Iran war that erupted in late February 2026, QatarEnergy—the world’s second-largest LNG exporter—is sending carefully calibrated signals to the global market. On one hand, it is cautiously testing the resumption of its own exports through the Strait of Hormuz. On the other, it is aggressively securing alternative supplies to […]
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