More oil and gas tankers are now being diverted away from the Red Sea, with some companies and producers avoiding the route. Among the latest, Qatar appears to be sending liquefied natural gas vessels to Europe via the longer route around Africa
Japanese shipping operator Nippon Yusen has become the latest among dozens of shipping companies to suspend sailings through the Red Sea.
Beijing has so far remained tight-lipped about the raging war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip despite China being Israel’s second-largest trading partner.
Beijing has called for an end to attacks on civilian vessels in the Red Sea.
US President Joe Biden and the World Bank are worried global oil prices could surge even higher if conflict in the Middle East escalates, as the Israel-Gaza war continues and as US and UK attacks on the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen attempt to blunt their ability to target commercial shipping in the Red Sea.
Analysts: oil prices are likely to remain around current levels this year.
OPEC+ producers now have sufficient spare capacity to potentially counter extreme market tightness and disruptions to oil flows that could result from geopolitical risks in the Middle East.
As of November 2023, the OPEC+ alliance held 5.1 million barrels per day (bpd) of spare oil production capacity—or about 5% of global demand.
Oil prices rose on Thursday after an oil tanker was boarded by an armed group in Oman, raising the prospect of escalating conflict in the Middle East.
February WTI crude oil (CLG24) on Thursday closed up +0.65 (+0.91%), and Feb RBOB gasoline (RBG24) closed up +4.70 (+2.27%).
Middle East oil and gas operators will need to be vigilant about the risk of cyberattacks as the Israel-Gaza conflict continues, security experts warn, or else risk energy supply disruption globally.
The energy sector is poised for a moderately lower start, pressured by low conviction weakness in the underlying commodities and in the broader equity futures. Equity sentiment steadied this morning following the recent run up in the benchmark indices as the markets assessed some disappointing retail results and looked ahead to the release of the Federal Reserve meeting minutes.
The Middle East also stands out as the only region where upstream oil and gas investments have exceeded pre-pandemic levels.
Kenera has secured a contract to deliver five top drives and five iron roughnecks to Arabian Drilling for new build rigs to operate on a major project in Saudi Arabia.