Global refining margins have surged to historic levels in July 2026, driven by a perfect storm of supply constraints, geopolitical tensions, and seasonal demand. While crude oil prices have retreated from their wartime peaks, downstream fuel markets remain exceptionally tight, creating unprecedented profitability for refiners worldwide.

The Strait of Hormuz crisis did not produce a single victor; it reordered the global energy map in ways that will outlast the ceasefire. For traders, suppliers and buyers, the critical question is not which country “won,” but which commercial strategies and geographic positions allow participants to profit from the new architecture of risk, supply and price formation.

After roughly 100 days of disruption, the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz has eased the immediate shock to global oil and gas markets, but it has not restored the old order. Traders, shippers, and buyers are now dealing with a market shaped by rerouted trade, tighter insurance and security requirements, and a stronger role for the Americas as a supply anchor.

The Iran war and the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz have not caused a total supply breakdown for Europe, but they have clearly redrawn the continent’s diesel and gasoline map. The result is a faster shift toward the United States, Norway, the United Kingdom, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, India, and regional European hubs, while Gulf‑linked flows have become more expensive, slower, and less reliable.

Baku Energy Week 2026 arrived with the familiar choreography of an industry showcase, but this year’s edition carried a sharper edge. Held from 1 to 3 June in Azerbaijan’s capital, the gathering once again placed the Caspian state at the center of a dense conversation about gas supply, infrastructure, investment, and the slow, uneven evolution of the energy transition.

One month after the UAE left OPEC, the immediate market impact has been limited, but the strategic implications are already significant. The move has weakened OPEC’s cohesion, increased the medium-term risk of higher UAE supply, and raised the odds of a more volatile and less coordinated oil market over the next year.

Africa still has one of the strongest growth profiles among emerging regions, but the near-term outlook is being squeezed by imported inflation, tighter financing conditions, and renewed geopolitical risk. The African Development Bank now expects the continent’s economy to expand by 4.2% in 2026, down from 4.4% in 2025, with the Middle East crisis feeding higher fuel and food costs and weighing on trade and production across the region.

The European Union’s new fertiliser action plan is a response to a structural problem, not just a price spike. Brussels is trying to protect farm incomes, stabilize food production, and reduce dependence on volatile external supply chains while keeping the transition toward lower-carbon agriculture on track. For market participants, the message is clear: the next phase of the fertiliser trade will reward suppliers that can combine security of supply, cost discipline, and comp

Azerbaijan and Georgia are using their latest energy and transport package to reinforce a corridor that matters far beyond bilateral diplomacy. The deal around the Baku-Supsa pipeline is less about one dormant line than about restoring optionality in Caspian crude flows, widening transit revenues, and tightening the region’s role in Eurasian energy logistics. For traders and buyers, the significance is that another western outlet for Caspian barrels may become more usable at

The United Arab Emirates’ decision to leave OPEC and OPEC+ marks one of the biggest ruptures in oil diplomacy in decades, and it comes at a time when the market is already strained by the Iran war and tight spare capacity. For traders, suppliers, and buyers, the key takeaway is not an immediate supply shock but a structural shift: the UAE is breaking free from quotas to pursue its own production strategy, and that changes the balance inside OPEC and the wider industry.

The war involving Iran has become far more than a regional security crisis. By disrupting the Strait of Hormuz and destabilizing energy, shipping, and insurance markets, it is now hitting the physical and financial plumbing of global trade.

The main message from the FT Commodities Global Summit in Lausanne was that the market is no longer being shaped by supply and demand alone. Traders, producers and policymakers are now operating in a world defined by geopolitics, sanctions risk, tariffs, de-dollarisation, shifting alliances and increasingly volatile trade routes. Reuters’ coverage from the summit shows a sector that is still profit-driven, but far more cautious about where barrels, cargoes and capital will fl

The Middle East crisis is no longer just an energy story. It is now a fertilizer, feedstock, logistics, and food-security story that is pushing up costs for farmers and agribusinesses from Asia to Latin America, with Africa and Europe also exposed through imports, freight, and gas-linked production.

Temporary U.S. sanctions waivers on Russian and Iranian oil have acted less like a structural reset and more like a pressure valve for a market shocked by the Iran war. They briefly restored supply confidence, softened the immediate risk of a deeper crude and products squeeze, and bought time for refiners, traders and buyers to reposition—but they did not remove the underlying geopolitical premium, especially as the waivers now approach expiry.

The Iran war has moved from a geopolitical event to an industrial market shock. In a matter of days, it disrupted oil, gas, fertilizer and petrochemical flows, then pushed the consequences deep into agriculture, manufacturing and global trade. For decision makers, the key issue is no longer whether prices moved. It is how fast the shock cascaded through supply chains, which products were hit first, and how long the disruption may last.

What began as a shock to oil and gas markets has rapidly morphed into a broader supply chain crisis. About a third of the world’s traded urea and up to half of global sulphur exports are linked to Gulf producers and seaborne routes that are now severely constrained. Qatar alone normally supplies roughly one‑third of global helium, a niche market with almost no spare capacity elsewhere. The result is a cascade of second‑order effects that are hitting Asia, Africa, Europe and L

Asian refiners, power utilities, and aviation hubs are being squeezed by the Hormuz crisis, which has choked off traditional Gulf export routes just as regional demand recovers. In this context, reliable FOB supply out of Jurong and other Asian ports —paired with CIF cargoes on an ASWP basis— offers a concrete way for traders and end‑users to secure EN590, Jet A1, and other refined products without waiting for geopolitics to normalize.

Since early 2022, the Russia–Ukraine war and the escalating Iran–Israel confrontation have combined into a twin shock that has redrawn the global energy map. Together they have fractured long‑standing trade routes, birthed parallel market systems, and injected structural volatility into pricing, logistics, and policy.

The Trans‑Caspian International Transport Route (TITR) –the Middle Corridor– is emerging from the sidelines as a strategic, if imperfect, alternative for both containerized goods and selected energy flows between Asia and Europe. Initially framed as a workaround to war‑related risks in the Black Sea and the Red Sea, the Middle Corridor is now being stress‑tested by an unprecedented combination of container diversion, fuel trade rerouting and geopolitical pressure.

The global fertilizers market, a cornerstone of modern agriculture, has long been a high-stakes arena for traders. Valued at around USD 210–245 billion in 2025, with nitrogen-based products like urea dominating demand, the sector fuels crop yields amid a growing world population. Yet, for traders, 2025 brought renewed turbulence: prices climbed 17–20% year-over-year despite softening trends, driven by geopolitical flashpoints, energy volatility, and fragmented trade flows.