Energy News Beat Stand Up: Global Energy Markets in Focus

What a wild day on the Energy News Beat Stand Up. We have a special guest, David Blackmon, Forbes, Daily Caller, and Substack Author, and we have a blast.

Key Points

“Secretary Scott Bessent: President Trump is talking about, and to be clear, he has focused on Karg Island since 1988, before the Shaw fell, that the U.S. Should be focused on that. He is laser focused on it. As I said, there was a bombing campaign last week. The military assets on Karg island were destroyed. And the other thing I can tell you, if you’re an oil worker, you don’t want to work there. So all the oil workers there are being coerced to stay there. And we will see what happens with whether that eventually becomes a U.S. Asset.”

If the US takes control of Kharg Island, the Venezuelan-style controls will be placed on Iran, and this will help bring peace to the Middle East.

1. U.S. Energy Policy & Oil Price Stabilization

The transcript covers Energy Secretary Granholm’s efforts to manage oil prices through various policy tools, including:

• Sanctions enforcement
• Strategic energy reserves
• Regulatory waivers on Russian and Iranian oil imports

2. Middle East Energy Infrastructure Conflicts

A significant focus is on military actions affecting energy infrastructure:

• Iran’s South Pars Gas Field: Discussion of drone attacks by U.S. and Israeli forces targeting Iran’s critical gas production facility
• Qatar’s Pearl GTL Complex: Qatar’s retaliatory strike on this LNG export facility, leading to force majeure declarations on LNG contracts

3. Global LNG Supply Disruptions

The disruption to Qatar’s liquefied natural gas exports is presented as a major concern for global energy markets, with the U.S. unable to quickly fill the supply gap in the short term.

4. State-Level Energy Transitions

Hawaii’s LNG Initiative

Efforts to transition away from fuel oil for power generation by importing LNG from Japan.

California Offshore Production

Discussion of restarting offshore oil production and the challenges posed by refinery closures.

5. Domestic Oil Production

Coverage of new oil and gas lease bids in Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve as a strategy to increase domestic oil production capacity.

6. Global Energy Market Dynamics

1. Secretary Scott Bessent Has Levers He Can Still Pull to Keep Oil Prices Stable for a Few Weeks

Key Points from His Interview on Fox

As the U.S.-Israel conflict with Iran roils global energy markets and pushes benchmark crude above $100 per barrel at times, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is wielding sanctions policy like a supply-side tool.

With the Strait of Hormuz under pressure and Iranian exports partially disrupted, Bessent has already pulled several levers:

• Temporary Russian oil sanctions waivers
• Coordinated Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) releases
• Allowances for Iranian tankers to transit

These actions aim to inject supply and cap price spikes.

This morning on Mornings with Maria, Secretary Scott Bessent has some great insights into how they are waging a financial war on Iran, and how they plan on keeping the markets stable.

Treasury’s Available Levers to Bolster Global Supply

Bessent’s primary tools sit in sanctions enforcement and emergency reserves:

Sanctions Waivers on Russian (and Potentially Iranian) Oil

The U.S. issued a 30-day global waiver allowing purchases of Russian crude and products already loaded on tankers.

SPR Releases

The Trump administration authorized a 172 million barrel U.S. draw as part of a coordinated IEA release.

Venezuelan-Style Price Controls (or Sanctions Framework) on Iran

This scenario envisions U.S. control of Kharg paired with Venezuela-style oversight:

• Payments routed through special U.S.-controlled accounts
• Bans on sales to Russia, Iran, North Korea, and China entities
• Forced discounts or directed flows

This new financial control on oil will bring up foundational changes to the oil as well as the natural gas markets.

Energy is now the main controlling lever tied to the monetary systems.

If Iran’s Monetary System Is Already “Broken”

Bessent has been blunt: U.S. sanctions engineered a dollar shortage that triggered Iran’s December 2025 banking crisis.

The system is already in systemic breakdown:

• Banks are insolvent
• Public finance is failing
• The rial is barely functioning as currency

Adding Kharg disruption or full Venezuelan-style controls would accelerate the spiral.

Bottom Line: Weeks of Stability Possible — But the Clock Is Ticking

Secretary Bessent has real, immediate levers to keep oil prices from spiraling out of control for the next few weeks.

Yet the hypotheticals are stark:

• Full unsanctioning delivers short-term relief
• Kharg seizure triggers supply shocks
• Venezuelan-style controls create regime collapse risks

Energy markets will remain hostage to how aggressively these levers are pulled versus how far military escalation goes.

2. South Pars Gas Field Strike

US-Israeli Drones Hit Iran’s Energy Lifeline

In a major escalation of the ongoing U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, strikes hit facilities tied to the world’s largest natural gas field — Iran’s South Pars.

This knocked out critical infrastructure supplying much of the country’s energy needs.

Who Carried Out the Strikes?

Iranian officials blamed “US-Israeli” drones and projectiles.

Israeli media reported the Israeli Air Force executed the operation in coordination with the Trump administration.

Qatar condemned the targeting as a dangerous step.

3. QatarEnergy’s Pearl GTL Complex Hit in Iranian Strike

Fires Rage at Ras Laffan

Equipment on Fire: The Critical Air Separation Units (ASUs)

The most likely target was Pearl GTL’s massive Air Separation Unit complex.

Pearl GTL relies on eight identical Linde-engineered ASUs producing oxygen essential for the Shell GTL process.

Replacement Cost and Timeline: Years, Not Months

Rebuilding these specialized ASUs will be expensive and time-consuming.

Estimated costs:

• Approximately $1 billion per unit
• More than $8 billion total before full restart

Timeline:

• 3–4 years manufacturing lead time per unit
• Multiple years before full production returns

4. QatarEnergy Declares Force Majeure on LNG Contracts

Shockwaves for Global Markets

QatarEnergy has confirmed it may invoke force majeure on long-term LNG supply contracts with buyers in:

• Italy
• Belgium
• South Korea
• China

Two LNG trains were hit, taking around 17% of export capacity offline for three to five years.

5. Hawaii’s Gas Bid Advances on Japan Plan

Japan rolls out an LNG to Power solution for Hawaii – this is huge.

6. National Petroleum Reserve–Alaska Has New Bids Opened

The Bureau of Land Management opened bids for the first competitive oil and gas lease sale in the National Petroleum Reserve–Alaska since 2019.

Results included:

• 430 bids submitted
• 187 tracts covered
• 1.335 million acres involved
• $163.7 million in high bids

A strong signal that major oil companies are back in Alaska.

7. Black Gold Returns to California

Oil is flowing again off the Santa Barbara coast for the first time in over a decade.

Sable Offshore Corp. restarted the Santa Ynez Pipeline System after a federal executive order invoking the Defense Production Act.

Production goals:

• 50,000 barrels per day initially
• Full production expected by June

8. Gasoline and Diesel Prices Are Going Up

What Are Trump’s Options to Lower Prices?

Gasoline prices surged to around $3.79 per gallon nationally as of mid-March 2026.

Some regions saw:

• Diesel near $4.86
• Isolated areas above $6

That is roughly a 25% jump in 17 days.

The Bottom Line

Buckle up, it is going to be a crazy few weeks.

Until the Marines can take Kharg Island and implement controls on Iran’s oil, we will see peace very quickly.

In the meantime, hug an oil field worker, a lineman, or someone who brings low-cost energy to your home.

The United States is not in the same place as the UK, the EU, Turkey, or the Middle East right now because of our great energy policies.

I am extremely grateful for Secretary Scott Bessent and Secretary Chris Wright.

They are setting the bar extremely high for their replacements.

Additional Resources

Check out The Energy News Beat Substack:

Energy News Beat
At The Intersection of Energy and Finance – By Sandstone Asset Management
By Stu Turley

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