CENTCOM says a fresh wave of strikes on Iran targets the ability to threaten Strait of Hormuz shipping, after three U.S. soldiers were confirmed dead and a fourth death is under review. This is analysis, not advice.

A drone hit the tanker NELSA at the Caspian Pipeline Consortium's Novorossiysk export point on Monday, the second attack on the facility in less than a day, again suspending loadings on a line that carries roughly 1% of global crude supply.

Brent settled at $93.61 a barrel, up 2.86%, and WTI at $86.45, up 2.5%, on July 22 as markets abandoned the assumption that the U.S.-Iran conflict would stay brief; J.P. Morgan says Strait of Hormuz crude flows have fallen to roughly 5.1 million barrels a day.

A Joint Maritime Information Center advisory citing Houthi missile and drone deployments near Bab el-Mandeb sent Brent and WTI up nearly 4% in early Wednesday trade — a reported threat, not a confirmed blockade, that already pushed three Saudi crude tankers to reverse course. This is analysis, not advice.

Norway's majority state-owned energy major posted a 267% year-on-year net income jump for the second quarter, driven almost entirely by price rather than volume, as benchmark crude traded near five-month highs.

Japan's day-ahead spot electricity price jumped to $0.15/kWh on Wednesday, its highest since January 2023, as reported Middle East hostilities and a Strait of Hormuz disruption to Qatar's LNG exports collided with a heat wave and a weak yen. This is analysis, not advice.

Reuters, citing Japanese government trade data, reported Japan's oil-import value rose 59.3% year-on-year in June even as import volume fell 13.7% — a repricing, not a buying spree, as Brent and WTI both climbed more than 60% year-to-date. This is analysis, not advice.

WTI jumped 16% to $85.45 after the U.S.-Iran ceasefire broke down over who controls transit through the Strait of Hormuz, reviving the same chokepoint dispute that had briefly eased in early July. This is analysis, not advice.

China's National Energy Administration reported record 2025 oil and gas output, led by 216 million tons of crude and a ninth straight year of natural-gas gains above 10 billion cubic meters. The same report flags a widening gap between depleting mature fields and costlier new discoveries — a caution the record-high headline tends to bury.

Brent traded near $92 and Strait of Hormuz ship transits fell more than half in mid-July, and Vanda Insight's Vandana Hari argues Asia's import vulnerability will outlast any ceasefire. This is analysis, not advice.

The Neptun Alpha platform is now sitting on the Black Sea seabed, but the field's EUR 4 billion price tag and 2027 first-gas date still carry execution risk. This is analysis of publicly stated project data, not advice: Romania's claim to become the EU's biggest gas producer rests on reserve estimates, not flowing gas.

Brent crude climbed to $92.44 and WTI to $85.51 in early Asian trade as the U.S.-Iran conflict entered an 11th consecutive night of strikes. The most concrete new supply threat in Wednesday's report isn't the Strait of Hormuz — it's a Houthi blockade declaration that sent three Saudi tankers reversing through the Red Sea's Bab el-Mandeb.

Reported Gulf LNG cargo counts have collapsed to roughly 26 since February 28, against a typical 90-100 a month, while Dutch and Asian gas benchmarks have jumped to multi-year highs. The scarcity is real, but the framing of buyers fleeing wholesale to coal and oil deserves a harder look at the numbers.