UPDATE: Hormuz Traffic Just Spiked to 40 Tankers in One Night — But It Fell Back to 13 the Next Day

UPDATE: Hormuz Traffic Just Spiked to 40 Tankers in One Night — But It Fell Back to 13 the Next Day

This is an update to the zero-traffic story: Axios reported that roughly 40 tankers moved 16 million barrels through Hormuz’s southern channel on Friday night, more than double the 15–20-ship shuttle Trump had been touting for weeks. But Bloomberg vessel-tracking showed just 13 ships crossed Saturday, still well below the June–July ceasefire volumes. The takeaway for traders: this is a scaled-up covert workaround, not a structural reopening, which is why Brent hasn’t broken back below $80 despite the headline spike.

#StraitOfHormuz #OilSupply #CrudeOil #TankerTraffic #EnergyMarkets

DOE’s Fix for Record Gas Prices Isn’t More Barrels — Refiners Are Already at 96.2% Capacity

Energy Secretary Chris Wright met refiners in Midland to find ways to boost throughput and ease record gasoline prices, but his own EIA data shows the fleet is already running flat-out with some plants overdue for maintenance. That leaves regulatory shortcuts, like waiving EPA haze-related blending rules, as the only real lever left. With Gulf Oil’s Tom Kloza projecting pump prices of $3.60-$3.90 by the midterms, the highest ever for that point in the year, Washington is discovering there’s no quick supply fix left to pull before voters go to the polls.

#GasolinePrices #RefiningMargins #EPA #Midterms2026 #EnergyPolicy

Iran Just Shut Down a Western Power Plant Without Firing a Shot — Refiners Should Be Watching

A four-day Iran-linked cyberattack knocked a UK power generator offline last month, reportedly the first confirmed case of Iran-affiliated hackers fully shutting down British energy infrastructure. It’s a small facility with no grid-wide impact, but it’s a proof of concept at a moment when Tehran has already pivoted from toll-booth boarding to outright tanker seizures at sea. Refiners and pipeline operators running legacy SCADA systems should treat this as a preview, not an isolated incident, especially as physical options in the Gulf get harder for Iran to sustain.

#Cybersecurity #EnergyInfrastructure #Iran #CriticalInfrastructure #RefineryOutage