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An oil tanker docks at Qingdao Port in China's Shandong province, where most of the crude imported from Iran is delivered

Seaborne oil exports from Iran to China hit record levels

Chinese imports of oil by sea rose in March to their highest in 17 months, with imports from Iran hitting a record, according to tanker tracking consultancy Vortexa. Seaborne crude arrivals – which account for about 85 percent of total Chinese oil imports – rose to 10.6 million barrels per day in March, up from […]

Chris Wright, the US energy secretary, gives a media briefing in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

US and Saudi Arabia agree ‘pathway’ to nuclear power deal

The US and Saudi Arabia – the world’s second-largest oil producer – are on a “pathway” towards co-developing a civilian nuclear programme for the kingdom, visiting US energy secretary Chris Wright has told reporters. This is the firmest US public statement yet of support for a Saudi nuclear power generating initiative, a topic of long-running […]

Iran's oil minister Mohsen Paknejad (left). Analysts expect tighter US sanctions to reduce Iranian crude exports by one million bpd

Iran sanctions help push oil prices to second weekly gain

Oil prices rose on Friday and were heading for a second consecutive weekly gain as fresh US sanctions on Iran and the latest output plan from the Opec+ producer group raised expectations of tighter supply. Brent crude futures were up 12 cents, or 0.2 percent, at $72.12 a barrel by 08:50 GMT. US West Texas […]

Ships at dock in Ras Laffan, Qatar. Iraq has sought more LNG from the country as supplies from Iran reduced

Iraq ramps up LNG import projects after US ends Iran waiver

Iraq is ramping up development of an offshore liquefied natural gas terminal and a 40km pipeline, as Baghdad seeks to import more gas following a US decision to end the country’s exemption on purchases from Iran, according to local media. Ali Shaddad, a member of the parliament’s oil and gas committee, said work on the […]

A mother and baby in Karaj, Iran, one of several Gulf states that are falling below the fertility replacement rate

Gulf fertility: falling short of replacement rates

Your starter for 10. The demographics of Tehran most closely resemble those of which city? a) Damascus b) Riyadh or c) Zurich. The answer of course, as any fule kno, is c). True, Zurich lacks a prison with the reputation and commodiousness of Evin, but in terms of population growth –  or lack of it […]

Iraq gas, Iraq LNG

Two new LNG terminals in Iraq to replace Iran gas

Iraq is planning to build two offshore liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals to tackle a persistent electricity supply shortage, its oil minister said on Monday. One facility to receive imported LNG needed to run its power stations will be located in the Faw port under construction in southern Iraq. The other will be at the […]

Workers at a gas facility north of Basra, Iraq. The country's huge gas reserves remain largely untapped due to underinvestment and conflict

Iraq-Turkmenistan gas deal unlikely to happen

A gas supply agreement signed by Iraq and Turkmenistan in 2023 may never begin because of challenges with transiting the gas through neighbouring Iran, Iraqi analysts say. The deal was for nearly 20 million cubic metres of natural gas per day to supply Iraq’s power facilities, but Iraq and Turkmenistan do not share a border. […]

Mohammed Al-Sudani, the Iraqi prime minister, says he is under no pressure to end Iran's supply of gas

Iraq to stop taking Iranian gas by 2028

Iraq will phase out gas imports from neighboring Iran within three years because of persistent supply disruptions. It will instead increasingly rely on more domestic production to fuel its power stations, and electricity from other neighbours including Saudi Arabia and Jordan. Mohammed Al-Sudani, the Iraqi prime minister, said Iraq’s decision to end Iranian imports in […]

Shoppers at a market in Iran. Vegetables and legumes recorded inflation of 12.5 percent

Iran inflation rises as fuel price and rents surge

Inflation in Iran rose month on month in January, driven by a surge in housing rents and fuel prices, official data showed. Annual inflation reached 32 percent this month, a rise of 2.9 percent month on month, local media outlets said, citing data released by the Statistical Center of Iran. The annual inflation rate was […]

Iraq Iran gas Hayan Abdel Ghani

‘It’s costing huge sums’ – Iraq may stop buying Iranian gas

Iraq may stop importing natural gas from its neighbour Iran when projects to develop the country’s unexploited gas resources are complete, the country’s oil minister has hinted.  Hayan Abdel Ghani told the official Iraqi news agency that the bill for Iranian gas imports was sapping Iraq’s coffers, and the Iranian supplies were no longer secure, […]

US president Joe Biden imposed the broadest package of sanctions so far targeting Russia's oil and gas revenues on Friday

Oil may hit $90 on Russia curbs and Iran output cut

Brent crude oil prices could rise above $85 a barrel in the short-term if the latest round of US sanctions against Moscow leads to lower Russian oil output, Goldman Sachs said on Sunday. Prices could touch $90 a barrel if the decline in Russian output coincides with a reduction in Iranian production, the bank said. US president Joe Biden imposed the broadest package of sanctions so […]

Iran China Chinese oil tanks

Iran seeks to free 25m barrels of oil stuck in Chinese ports

Iran is pushing to free 25 million barrels of the country’s oil that has been stuck for six years in Chinese ports because of sanctions imposed by Donald Trump during his first presidency, sources have said. Trump is expected by analysts to tighten sanctions again on Iranian oil exports tolimit Tehran’s income when he returns […]

Gas imports from Turkmenistan will help ease Iraqi domestic shortages due to Iran halting the flow of gas supplies

Iraq turns to Turkmenistan to plug Iranian gas gap

Iraq has always considered neighbouring Iran as a stable and reliable supplier of natural gas needed to run its power facilities, but experts now believe that alternative sources and domestic Iranian needs have put this relationship in doubt. Iran’s gas exports to Iraq have fluctuated sharply and the shortage has played havoc with Iraq’s power […]

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, right, with China's President Xi Jinping. The report says Saudi Arabia could learn from Beijing's economic development

Beijing ‘exploits’ Iran, says US advisory panel

American officials have identified the Middle East, and particularly the GCC, as crucial turf in superpower competition between the US and China, singling out energy and advanced technology as the main fields where a tug-of-war is taking place. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, a 25-year-old Congressionally-mandated independent US government agency, dedicated an entire […]

Trump Iran oil

Top of Trump’s to-do list: sanctions against Iran

Donald Trump’s second term as US president, which is due to start in January, is likely to bring a significant strengthening of sanctions against Iran and a resumption of the “maximum pressure policy”, industry experts believe. In his first term as president, Trump withdrew from the Joint Collective Plan of Action, a 2015 accord which […]

Petrol prices in Iran are some of the lowest in the world, making it difficult to unlock the country's oil wealth domestically

Iran’s mission to make the most of oil wealth

Despite some predictable vapouring from hardliners, the Islamic regime in Tehran will mainly be heaving a sigh of relief that Israel did not attack Iran’s oil infrastructure. The IAF avoided the main oil terminal at Kharg Island in the north of the Gulf, major refineries such as Abadan – there are 10 main refining sites in the country – […]