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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Chevron Chairman and CEO Mike Wirth delivered a blunt message in Austin on Friday: the shock absorbers that kept oil from exploding earlier in the Iran war are finished. Strategic stockpile releases and the U.S. decision to loosen rules on sanctioned crude sitting in floating storage have been “played out.” From here, he said, it […]
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That is no longer a theoretical risk. With the Strait of Hormuz still effectively closed to most traffic by the U.S.-Iran war and Houthi forces tightening their grip on Bab el-Mandeb, the kingdom’s last high-volume workaround—the East-West pipeline to Yanbu—is under fire. The combination threatens crude exports and the diesel, gasoline, and jet fuel that […]
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The latest WellDatabase U.S. Rig Report dated September 11, 2026, shows 598 active rigs, down 32 week-over-week but up 22 year-over-year. Baker Hughes, which released the same day, reported 591 rigs, up 3 from 588 the prior week and up about 52–54 from 537 a year earlier. Enverus’ daily GPS-tracked count stood near 661 as […]
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Energy News Beat | September 11, 2026 Open-source satellite imagery and fire-detection data circulating Friday morning have raised the possibility that Yemen’s Houthis struck a pumping station on Saudi Arabia’s East-West crude pipeline, the kingdom’s main overland route around the Strait of Hormuz. The claim is serious. It is also, as of this writing, unconfirmed […]
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Veteran commodities strategist Jeff Currie says the odds that the U.S. average gasoline price hits $5 a gallon before the November midterms are “extremely high.” The former Goldman Sachs commodities chief, now founder and CEO of Real Macro and co-founder of 1947 Oil and Gas, told Bloomberg the energy shock has entered a dangerous new […]
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The U.S. Energy Information Administration just raised its 2027 U.S. crude oil production forecast to a record 14.3 million barrels per day. On paper, that looks like good news for American energy security. In the real market of September 2026, it is only half the story. Oil prices are back above $100 a barrel this […]
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Saudi Arabia has told OPEC that its crude production collapsed again in August 2026, falling 1.9 million barrels per day to 6.238 million b/d—the lowest level the kingdom has reported since 1990, at the outset of the Gulf War. Riyadh attributed the drop to renewed U.S.–Iran hostilities that squeezed its export routes. That official communication, […]
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Brent settled above $101 on Wednesday, September 9, and WTI followed through the $100 level on Thursday morning in a sharp rally. Physical benchmarks had already been there. Dated Brent has held above $100 since September 3. Murban, DME Oman, the OPEC basket, and the Indian basket were already trading over that threshold. Futures are […]
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In early 2026, the global oil market experienced a seismic shift. When geopolitical tensions with Iran escalated, crude prices surged—and Texas responded. In this episode, economist Karr Ingham, oil producer Rey Trevino, and energy journalist Stu Turley break down how a single conflict triggered a cascade of market changes: rig counts climbing for the first […]
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