In a notable development for global energy markets amid the ongoing Strait of Hormuz crisis, the Chinese-owned VLCC supertanker Yuan Hua Hu has successfully transited the vital chokepoint and is now en route to China. The passage comes on the heels of high-stakes meetings between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in […]
Continue Reading
President Donald Trump’s two-day summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing (May 14-15, 2026) delivered a mix of tangible trade deliverables and diplomatic signaling on the Iran war—framed against a backdrop of disrupted global energy flows through the Strait of Hormuz. While no sweeping new trade war truce or grand bargain emerged, both sides […]
Continue Reading
ENB Pub Note: Interesting Article from Andrew Korybko’s Newsletter on Substack. We recommend following him. The Sino-Russo Entente might evolve into a de facto alliance if South Korea and Japan join AUKUS+, the US’ de facto “Asian NATO”, but that risks spooking India into a de facto alliance with the US to counterbalance perceived Chinese […]
Continue Reading
WASHINGTON/BEIJING – U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent delivered a stark update on Iran’s oil sector while in Beijing for the Trump-Xi summit, declaring that Iran’s primary export terminal at Kharg Island has reached 100% storage capacity. No oil loadings have occurred in the past three days, ships are neither entering nor leaving, and production shutdowns […]
Continue Reading
While global oil markets grapple with the fallout from the Strait of Hormuz disruptions and seek a path toward price recovery, one player is quietly rewriting the rules: China. Through years of deliberate, long-range planning, Beijing has transformed its strategic petroleum reserves into a powerful tool for energy security—and, unintentionally or not, a distorting force […]
Continue Reading
Independent “teapot” refiners in China — the smaller, privately owned facilities concentrated in Shandong province that account for roughly a quarter of the country’s refining capacity — are slashing production rates as the ongoing paralysis in the Strait of Hormuz drives crude prices higher and crushes refining margins. According to industry sources cited by Reuters […]
Continue Reading
As U.S. naval pressure intensifies around Iran’s ports and the Strait of Hormuz, Tehran is accelerating use of its overland rail connection to China as a sanctions-busting “back door.” The route, part of Beijing’s Belt and Road infrastructure push, offers a faster, blockade-resistant alternative for goods — but how much can it really move, especially […]
Continue Reading
The ongoing conflict in the Middle East — sparked by U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran in early 2026 — has delivered an unexpected windfall to the Kremlin. Global oil prices surged as threats to the Strait of Hormuz disrupted supplies from the region, pushing benchmark prices above $100 per barrel at peaks and lifting […]
Continue Reading
UAE Hit by drones, U.S. Navy escorts ships out, and California is up to no good. What a wild day on the News Desk. President Trump ordered the U.S. Navy to escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz, and Iran started lobbing drones and missiles around. Bagdad Bob showed up in Iran and claimed that […]
Continue Reading
ENB Pub Note: This article is from Andrew Korybko’s Substack newsletter, and we recommend following and subscribing. Absent a deal with Trump, which Putin could be further induced to agree to if Trump promises to reduce US pressure on some – but not all – of these countries, Russia might lose all 15 of these […]
Continue Reading