Markets

The Cartel Kingpin has juggled export routes as the US-Iran war chokes the Strait of Hormuz and Houthi strikes knock out its East-West pipeline, selling almost 100MM bbl to Asia via Hormuz while racing to restore the 4MM b/d Petroline to Yanbu.

Asia's crude imports are set to hit 23.96MM b/d in Sep., the highest since the Iran war began in Feb., but still about 13% below pre-war levels.

Saudi Aramco has told European term customers they will receive no Saudi crude in Oct., following the Sep. 10 attack on the kingdom's 7 MM b/d East-West pipeline that has kept the key export route offline.

The Middle East supply crisis has created extraordinary price dislocations and trade flow realignments.

Asia is absorbing the sharpest financial impact of the Middle East supply crisis, with China's yuan-denominated crude futures hitting an all-time record and Japan's oil import bill surging 58.7% year-on-year.

At the S&P Global Energy's Asia Pacific Petroleum Conference (APPEC) 2026 conference in Singapore on Sep. 9, industry executives and regional leaders underscored that Asian refiners are fundamentally realigning their procurement strategies.

Iraq more than doubled crude exports via the Strait of Hormuz in Aug. as heavy discounts and Iranian transit permissions eased export bottlenecks.

China and India are locked in a fierce competition for Russian crude as supply constraints make barrels scarcer and costlier.

A sharp divergence has emerged between US government claims and private vessel-tracking data regarding the resumption of Middle East oil exports amid the ongoing Iran war and Strait of Hormuz disruption.

China's oil demand has