Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis claimed a drone strike on Saudi Aramco’s Jazan (also spelled Jizan) refinery on Sunday, August 9, 2026, just two days after the kingdom signed a major trilateral defense pact. Saudi Arabia’s Energy Ministry reported a fire at a facility within the complex that was extinguished with no injuries. This marks the latest […]
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On August 7, 2026, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced sweeping sanctions targeting digital asset exchanges and networks used by the Iranian regime to launder funds, evade sanctions, and support the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and other terrorist groups. The action hits two major platforms exploited by […]
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On August 7, 2026, the U.S. Senate overwhelmingly passed the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 by a vote of 86-11. The bipartisan measure, renamed in honor of the late South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham—who championed it until his death last month—now heads to the House. The legislation authorizes the president […]
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Citigroup has raised its third-quarter 2026 Brent crude forecast to $80 per barrel from $75, citing the prolonged U.S.-Iran conflict and continued constraints on oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz. The bank left its fourth-quarter 2026 forecast unchanged at $70 per barrel and continues to project an average of $65 per barrel for full-year […]
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Gulf shipping traffic effectively stalled this week after Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis claimed a “precise hit” with several ballistic missiles on the Saudi-flagged products tanker NCC WAFA (also referred to as Wafaa) in the northern Red Sea off the Yanbu area. The Houthi statement, reported via outlets including Al Bawaba, described a military operation targeting the […]
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Energy News Beat Stand Up In a rapidly shifting global energy landscape, the stakes have never been higher. From Texas governors taking unprecedented action on data centers to Houthi attacks disrupting critical shipping lanes, from Europe’s plummeting LNG reserves to the fundamental clash between net zero policies and energy reality, this episode of the Energy […]
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U.S. commercial crude oil inventories rose last week, but Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) draws and sharp declines in key refined products left overall oil and product stocks tighter, according to the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) Weekly Petroleum Status Report released today for the week ending July 31, 2026. Key Inventory Highlights (Week Ending July 31, […]
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The Iran-aligned Houthi rebels in Yemen claimed on or around August 4-5, 2026, that they successfully targeted a Saudi-controlled medium-range (MR) product tanker in the northern Red Sea with ballistic missiles. The vessel, identified as the Bahri-controlled NCC Wafa (also referred to as Wafaa or NCC WAFA; IMO 9688348, approximately 49,990 DWT, built 2014, Saudi-flagged), […]
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Global oil refineries outside active conflict zones are operating near or at maximum capacity, with almost no remaining buffers to absorb further shocks. Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser made the point clearly this week: the system is stretched thin, leaving “little shock absorbers or buffers” against higher fuel prices. A combination of the ongoing war […]
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The global energy landscape remains highly volatile in early August 2026, shaped by overlapping geopolitical, security, and climate pressures. Disruptions centered on Russia’s refined product exports, ongoing uncertainty over the Strait of Hormuz, escalating risks in the Bab el-Mandab Strait, and a severe drought across Europe are tightening supplies of crude oil, petroleum products, LNG, […]
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