Aramco Just Cut Prices to the Lowest Since 2020 — Because Asian Refiners Are Refusing to Sail Through the Red Sea

Some Asian refiners are pushing back against Aramco’s request that they pick up cargoes at Yanbu, asking instead for Egypt’s Sidi Kerir port to dodge the Bab el-Mandeb transit. Aramco responded by cutting September pricing for Asian buyers to the lowest level since 2020. That’s not generosity — the crude still moves, but the route and cost basis change, meaning delivered barrels get pricier through freight and insurance even as posted prices look like a discount. Whichever way Aramco leans next, it’s tacit admission that Bab el-Mandeb is now its own standalone chokepoint, separate from Hormuz.

#Aramco #RedSea #SUMED #OilLogistics #CrudeOil

India’s State Oil Giant Just Got Cleared Back Into Venezuela — It’s a Hedge, Not a Rescue Bet on Caracas

ONGC has secured an OFAC license to resume Venezuela operations, reopening its path back into the 40%-owned San Cristobal project and its Carabobo stake. The immediate prize is over $500 million in dividends stranded since sanctions hit. But the real story is timing: India is already leaning on Russia, Brazil, Venezuela, Nigeria and Angola to replace Gulf barrels choked off by the Hormuz blockade. ONGC’s return isn’t a bet that Caracas stabilizes — it’s one more spoke in India’s scramble to diversify crude sourcing away from any single chokepoint or supplier.

#ONGC #Venezuela #India #OilSupply #EnergyPolicy

A Fuel Oil Cargo From Malaysia Just Sailed to California — the Feedstock Map Doesn’t Look Like 2023 Anymore

A cargo of low-sulfur fuel oil left Malaysia’s Petronas-owned PRefChem refinery bound for a U.S. West Coast refinery — the first such shipment since 2023. U.S. refiners normally source this feedstock from nearby Mexico and Venezuela, but record refining margins have widened the arbitrage enough to justify hauling it across the Pacific instead. It’s one cargo, but it’s a tell: when feedstock starts crossing oceans that used to be uneconomical, that’s the market bidding for anything crackable into diesel and gasoline, wherever it sits.

#FuelOil #RefineryFeedstock #WestCoast #GlobalTrade #RefiningMargins