(5:43 pm / Pakistan timezone)
After the United States announced a ceasefire, Iran has confirmed it will reopen the Strait of Hormuz for all vessels for a period of two weeks.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, speaking on behalf of the Supreme National Security Council, thanked Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Chief of Defence Forces Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir for their active role in facilitating the ceasefire and easing regional tensions.
Crew members on the Panama-flagged ship, „SOHAR LNG,“ are safe, a Mitsui O.S.K. Lines spokesperson said, while declining to disclose when it crossed the strait and whether there was any kind of negotiations to do so.
The Asahi newspaper earlier on Friday reported that the ship was the first Japanese vessel to have exited the Strait of Hormuz since the onset of the Iran war.
Iran and Oman are reportedly drafting a protocol to monitor ship transit through the Strait of Hormuz, raising hopes of easing disruptions caused by the ongoing conflict in the region.
According to Iranian state news agency IRNA, citing an official, Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said the framework would come into effect after the war involving the United States and Israel ends.
(March 27, 2026)
Below are other „friendly“ nations to Iran whose vessels are allowed to pass through the Strait of Hormuz
(March 24, 2026)
The official drew parallels with two previous rounds of negotiations held in the spring and winter of 2025, characterising them as deceptive.
In both instances, the official stressed, the United States had no genuine intention to engage in meaningful dialogue and subsequently carried out military aggression against Iran. (…)
The official outlined five specific conditions under which Iran would agree to end the war. These include:
– A complete halt to „aggression and assassinations“ by the enemy.
– The establishment of concrete mechanisms to ensure that the war is not reimposed on the Islamic Republic.
– Guaranteed and clearly defined payment of war damages and reparations.
– The end of the war across all fronts and for all resistance groups involved throughout the region
– Iran‘s exercise of sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz is and will remain Iran‘s natural and legal right, and it constitutes a guarantee for the implementation of the other party‘s commitments, and must be recognized.
Die südkoreanische Regierung hat laut eigenen Angaben einen Plan für den Fall ausgearbeitet, dass die LNG-Importe aus Katar vollständig ausbleiben.
Demnach lasse sich die inländische Versorgung mit verflüssigtem Erdgas (LNG) auch in diesem Szenario stabil aufrechterhalten.
Der Krieg geht unvermindert weiter, wobei Israel nicht nur den Iran angreift, sondern auch den Libanon und weiter in Gaza Völkermord begeht sowie in der Westbank gegen dort seit Jahrhunderten ansässige Palästinenser vorgeht. Die Straße von Hormus ist weiter geschlossen, Energiepreise steigen und es drohen steigende Lebenmittelpreise sowie in manchen Teilen der Welt auch Hungersnöte, da auch die Ausfuhr von Düngemitteln gestoppt ist, die 35% des Welthandels ausmachen.
(March 12, 2026)
Deprived of their natural gas supplies from Qatar, fertilizer firms in India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan have had to shut down production. Egypt, another important producer, has lost its gas imports from Israel and must turn to the ever-pricier LNG market. The benchmark price of urea, the most widely traded fertilizer, is up about 30 percent in the last month.
The damage extends beyond nitrogen to another key crop nutrient, phosphorus. Gulf countries produce around 20 percent of phosphate fertilizers, and as well as a quarter of global sulfur, which is largely an oil and gas byproduct. Fertilizer producers need sulfur (sulfuric acid, to be precise) to turn phosphate rock into a liquid that plants can absorb.
Helium, a by-product of natural gas extraction used in semiconductor manufacturing for ultra-clean cooling, leak detection and inert shielding, faces a global squeeze, with Qatar among the world’s most important suppliers.
This comes as the US-Israeli attacks on Iran have already disrupted liquefied natural gas (LNG) production in Qatar, a leading LNG supplier, and constrained shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, a key energy chokepoint that is now paralysed.
Besonders Asien ist durch die Energiekrise, die der US-israelische Angriff auf den Iran ausgelöst hat, hart getroffen. Am ganzen Kontinent werden Spar- und Rationierungsmaßnahmen von Regierungen verordnet.
KATHMANDU, March 12: Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has enforced a rationing system for cooking gas, directing liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) bottlers to sell only half-filled cylinders. The decision comes amid a surge in demand driven by panic buying from consumers, fueled by the ongoing crisis in the Middle East.
According to NOC, there are approximately 150,000 LPG cylinders currently in circulation across the country.
In this episode, Nigel exposes the full story behind Venezuela’s decision to suspend its gas agreements with Trinidad and Tobago — and why it could devastate our energy future.
Venezuela’s Vice President, Delcy Rodríguez, announced the suspension of all joint projects with Trinidad, citing betrayal after Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar welcomed U.S. warships into our waters. But this isn’t just political drama — it’s economic suicide. The Dragon Gas Field held over 4 trillion cubic feet of gas, nearly half our remaining reserves, and could have secured decades of energy and revenue for Trinidad and Tobago
„I have approved the measure,“ Maduro said.
His order immediately suspended all aspects of the energy agreement with Trinidad and Tobago, he said, and Congress and the Supreme Court will be asked to weigh in with additional recommendations.
That would likely mean Venezuela would revoke the license to develop the massive Dragon natural gas field, among other projects.
The licence on the field permits the British multinational oil and gas company Shell and Trinidad’s National Gas Company to develop the Dragon gasfield off Venezuela despite the sanctions targeting Maduro’s government.
Shell is separately developing the Manatee gas project, which crosses the maritime border into Venezuela but has received permission from the Maduro government to be developed on the Trinidad side independently. It was not immediately clear whether that project could also be at risk, the Reuters news agency reported.
“I believe that this, plus NATO, as a group, placing 50% to 100% TARIFFS ON CHINA, to be fully withdrawn after the WAR with Russia and Ukraine is ended, will also be of great help in ENDING this deadly, but RIDICULOUS, WAR,” he said.
Trump added that Russia’s war in Ukraine would end “quickly” if those steps were taken.
CNN has reported that the European Union imposed a ban on maritime Russian oil imports and refined oil products like diesel, but many countries continue to import Russian fossil fuels and liquefied natural gas.
In this regard, he said that imperialism attacks Venezuela with the threat of its warships for two reasons: „One is that they come for Venezuela‘s wealth. They come for the oil, for the world‘s largest oil reserves. The fourth largest gas reserves, they come for the natural reserves, for our soil,“ he listed.
„The second is that they are here for Simón Bolívar‘s project. They want to try to root out the great liberation project, so that the example doesn‘t spread to the world,“ he reflected.
He added that the U.S. government doesn‘t want the world to see „that a country‘s budget isn‘t spent on wars, it‘s invested in education, youth, and progress.“
(July 14, 2025)
Global Witness contacted Israel, Egypt, the EU and the Palestinian Mission to the UK for comment on our findings. None responded.
European gas prices have plunged to the lowest since mid-2021, when Russia was just beginning to squeeze supplies before its invasion of Ukraine, helping to reverse a surge in inflation and bring relief to consumers.
Well into the second year of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the EU, most of the G7 countries, and Australia have cracked down on their imports of Russian crude oil and oil products. At the same time, these countries, which are all part of the price-cap coalition whose objective is to limit Russia’s revenues from fossil fuel exports, have increased imports of refined oil products by leaps and bounds from the countries that have become the largest importers of Russian crude oil.
Europe has boosted imports of refined petroleum products from countries that have raised imports of Russian crude oil, as a major loophole in the sanctions risks undermining the effectiveness of the price cap and embargoes, a report from the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) showed on Wednesday.
The EU, Australia, and most of the G7 countries have banned direct imports of Russian crude oil, but they have raised indirectly imports of Russian oil by purchasing higher volumes of oil products from countries that have become the biggest buyer of Russia’s crude, the Finland-based center said.
(Apr 14, 2023)
White House Coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa and the U.S. Special Presidential Coordinator for Global Infrastructure and Energy Security visited Saudi Arabia officials on Friday to discuss regional security and energy matters.
West Texas Intermediate futures traded above $82 a barrel after posting the longest run of weekly gains since June. A surprise production cut by OPEC+ will tighten the market more than previously expected and lead to further price increases, inflicting more pain on consumers, the IEA said on Friday.
(12.03.2023)
Aramco boosted its dividend — a crucial source of funding for the Saudi Arabian government — to $19.5 billion for the final quarter, up 4% from the previous three-month period.
US and European peers such as Chevron Corp. and Shell Plc also reported blowout earnings and are returning billions of dollars to shareholders through larger dividends and buybacks. Aramco, until now, has instead focused on using its extra cash to increase output.
It is not the first time for Russia to top China‘s oil supplier list. In 2022, Russia shipped the most crude oil to China on a monthly basis in May and November. In terms of the whole year of 2022, Russia exported a total of 86.25 million tons of oil to China, ranking second after Saudi Arabia‘s 87.49 million tons, according to customs data.
Russia is also China‘s main source of natural gas and coal imports, and the „ballast stone“ role of energy in bilateral trade has been further highlighted, Chinese newspaper the Economic Daily reported on Monday, citing Chinese Ambassador to Russia Zhang Hanhui.
The Chinese currency, the yuan, has become a major player in Russia’s foreign trade, according to data from the country’s central bank. The share of renminbi in Russia’s import settlements jumped to 23% by the end of last year from only 4% in January 2022. The yuan’s share in export settlements also surged from 0.5% to 16%. At the same time, the two countries have been slashing the share of the US dollar and euro in their bilateral trade.
Last June, the Navy divers, operating under the cover of a widely publicized mid-summer NATO exercise known as BALTOPS 22, planted the remotely triggered explosives that, three months later, destroyed three of the four Nord Stream pipelines, according to a source with direct knowledge of the operational planning.
Two of the pipelines, which were known collectively as Nord Stream 1, had been providing Germany and much of Western Europe with cheap Russian natural gas for more than a decade. A second pair of pipelines, called Nord Stream 2, had been built but were not yet operational. Now, with Russian troops massing on the Ukrainian border and the bloodiest war in Europe since 1945 looming, President Joseph Biden saw the pipelines as a vehicle for Vladimir Putin to weaponize natural gas for his political and territorial ambitions.