Syria: The Strategic Implications of Becoming the Hormuz Bypass
Intelligence Assessment: The Iran war has turned Syria from a sanctions case into transit infrastructure that Iraq, Turkey, the Gulf and Washington all need,...
Borrowed Time in the Strait of Hormuz
Crude oil is flowing out of the Gulf again, but the market is no better prepared for another disruption in the Strait of Hormuz....
Trump-Putin Diesel Deal Explained: What We Know and What It Means for Global Oil Markets
US President Donald Trump is taking steps to reduce diesel prices by lifting sanctions on Russian diesel exports and declaring a ceasefire on energy...
The Red Sea, Not Hormuz, Now Decides Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Policy
A Pipeline Back On, and Nowhere to Go
On 22 September, Saudi Aramco began pumping crude again through the East-West pipeline, the 1,200-kilometre line that...
Washington’s Diesel Ban Would Hit Its Allies Harder Than Iran Does
A Phone Call, a Denial, and a Meeting in Brussels
On the evening of 23 September, Energy Secretary Chris Wright reportedly told energy executives that...
Washington’s Oil Takeover of Venezuela
Eight months after U.S. forces captured Nicolás Maduro, Washington’s involvement in Venezuela has moved far beyond politics. The United States is now gaining a...
Why China’s Teapot Refiners Can’t Sanction-Proof This War
A decade of financial sanctions barely dented China's discounted-Iranian-oil trade. Physical strikes on the tankers themselves might close it within months — because Beijing...
How Chinese Goods Reached Iran Despite Billions in Sanctions
Iran has created a barter-like system to bypass sanctions on its oil sales, allowing it to acquire billions of dollars in goods from China,...
Regime Change, Itemized: Inside the Venezuela Oil Deal
The 65-billion-barrel Venezuela oil deal is not proof that regime change was sold with a resource contract attached as its explicit precondition — the...
Iran’s Kharg Island: The Strategic Hub at the Heart of Its Oil Industry
Oil prices increased due to rising tensions involving Iran, sparked by a U.S. President Donald Trump's claim regarding Kharg Island oil hub, which an...