The Houthis Just Widened Their Target List Beyond Jazan — And Broke Brent Through $100 for the First Time Since June

The Houthis Just Widened Their Target List Beyond Jazan — And Broke Brent Through $100 for the First Time Since June

Watch Yanbu next. Tuesday’s strikes didn’t just hit Jazan again — Houthi missiles and drones also reached Najran, Abha and a Saudi air base, expanding a front that had been narrowly focused on one refinery. Jazan hosts a 400,000-b/d refinery, and Saudi Arabia has been routing crude west through Yanbu specifically to dodge the Hormuz war. If that Red Sea corridor becomes the next target, the kingdom loses its only working workaround — not just a refinery, but its backup plan.

#SaudiArabia #Houthi #BrentCrude #RefineryOutage #RedSea

Iraq’s Second-Largest Oilfield Just Threatened a Strike — Days Before Chevron Was Supposed to Close the Deal

A wage dispute, not a missile, is now the biggest risk to 460,000 b/d of Iraqi crude. West Qurna-2 workers gave Basra Oil Company one week to pay overdue dues and match the job security Lukoil once offered, warning of a shutdown of extraction and exports if ignored. That deadline lands as Chevron works to finalize exclusive-negotiation terms to take over the field from BOC’s interim management — inheriting a labor relationship BOC never fully sorted out.

#Iraq #WestQurna2 #Chevron #CrudeSupply #OilGeopolitics

The Fed’s Rate Decision Just Collided With a Refining System That Has No Spare Capacity Left

This week’s PPI and CPI prints won’t just move markets — they’ll test whether the Fed can justify a rate cut while gasoline sits at its highest-ever September price. Midwest refiners are running above 103% of nameplate capacity and delaying maintenance just to keep supply flowing, while gasoline inventories keep drawing down. A hot inflation print now has an obvious culprit that fiscal or monetary policy can’t fix: a refining system with no slack left to absorb the next shock.

#FederalReserve #Inflation #GasolinePrices #RefiningMargins #OilPrices