Aramco recently completed a sale of around 4 million barrels of Arab Medium and Heavy crude to PetroChina at locations just outside the Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf of Oman. This marks Saudi Arabia’s second sale this month of heavier crude grades to Chinese refiners, indicating that energy flows through the Strait of Hormuz may remain elevated. While Saudi Arabia has been able to ship light crude from its Yanbu port, the reopening of shipping through Hormuz allows the kingdom to begin selling heavier grades again.

Qatar has extended its force majeure on LNG supplies to European and Asian buyers as uncertainty over shipping in the Strait of Hormuz persists. QatarEnergy this week informed Pakistani buyers that its LNG cargo cancellations would continue into October, while Bangladesh’s force majeure will extend through September. Italian utility firm Edison SpA added that its cancellations of Qatari cargoes were extended into early November, while other European buyers said they have begun receiving notices as well. While some oil shipments have resumed through the strait, such as Iraqi crude, Qatar has remained more cautious because LNG carriers are scarcer and more valuable than oil tankers.

Iraq has begun offering its oil to buyers outside of the Strait of Hormuz for the first time since the start of the U.S.-Iran war. Iraq’s state oil marketer SOMO has begun opening tenders for Basrah Medium and Heavy to be collected by buyers via ship-to-ship transfers near the Omani coast starting next month. While it is not immediately clear how SOMO plans to ship the crude out of the Gulf, Iran has recently begun allowing Iraqi shipments to clear the strait amidst diplomatic pleas from Iraq.

Iraq’s oil marketing company SOMO said that ADNOC is one of a number of firms that is currently buying Iraqi crude and sending its cargoes through the Strait of Hormuz. This announcement follows an August 12th Bloomberg report that ADNOC was offering to shuttle exports of Iraqi oil through the Strait of Hormuz using its “dark-transit playbook.” This announcement signals that Iraq is finding ways to sustain at least some of its oil outputs as the country has been hit with financial difficulties amidst Hormuz closures.

Iraq is resuming efforts to transfer more oil from its southern export ports through the Strait of Hormuz, with state marketer SOMO seeking customers for September shipments as tanker access to the Strait reopens. The decision follows a breakthrough over the weekend where Iran granted transit through Hormuz for several tankers carrying Iraqi oil after constant diplomatic pleas from Iraq.

ADNOC, Abu Dhabi’s state-owned energy company, ordered two more LNG tankers in a deal worth $444 million. The ships are set to be delivered in 2029, and the purchase comes amidst a larger buying spree that has seen ADNOC spend $2.7 billion on vessels yet to be built this year. These purchases indicate ADNOC’s plans to expand its energy output in the coming years.

Construction of Saudi Arabia’s flagship green hydrogen project in NEOM has been completed. During the second-quarter earnings call, the board said the building was complete and the target was to go into commercial operation next year. The NEOM complex, developed by a joint-venture is planned to produce 1.2 million tonnes of green ammonia annually backed by 2.2 GW of electrolysers, and about 4 GW of solar and wind capacity.

Abu Dhabi based energy infrastructure company Global South Utilities has unveiled a 50-MW solar farm with battery storage in the Central African Republic, increasing the country’s electricity generation capacity by more than 60%. The facility consists of more than 80,000 solar panels, 156 inverters, and a 15-MWh battery energy storage system. The whole plant was delivered and completed in just ten months. It is expected to provide electricity to more than 300,000 households and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than 50,000 tonnes a year. The facility was financed from the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development.

Rawaf Boursili, Vice Chairman of Action Energy said Kuwait’s national oil companies have shown exceptional capability navigating ongoing regional challenges, reaffirming their commitment to supporting Kuwait’s upstream energy sector and long term objectives. The company’s contracted backlog has reached a record level of $1.1 billion. Approximately 39% of the backlog comprises integrated, high value oilfield services, which is exptected to become an increasingly significant contributor to the company’s financial performance in the near future. The company’s international expansion has also moved from strategy to execution as they are preparing to deploy artificial intelligence oslutions for well control digitilization and real-time monitoring.

Baker Hughes, an American energy technology company, has been awarded a multi-year contract by KOC to collaborate on technology innovation as part of the Ahmadi Innovation Valley project in Kuwait. The agreement will set Baker Hughes as a central partner in efforts to develop an in-country research and innovation hub focused on Kuwait’s upstream oil and gas sector. Baker Hughes will set up an office there and will prioritize artificial intelligence, product optimization, reservoir technology, water management, and energy transition initiatives.

Kuwait is in discussion with Saudi Arabia and other neighbouring Arab countries to construct a major crude oil export pipeline that would bypass the Strait of Hormuz. Kuwait’s Oil Minister Tariq Al Roumi told Japan’s Kyodo news agency that the proposed pipeline project aims to secure alternative export routes. Options under consideration include connecting Kuwait through Saudi Arabia to ports on the Red Sea or Oman, as well as linking directly to the UAE’s port of Fujairah. Kuwait is currently studying the best and most cost-effective option to begin construction of the strategic pipeline.

Iraq and Turkiye have signed a one-year agreement to maintain operations of the joint crude oil pipeline. The deal secures the continued flow of Iraqi crude through the only export pipeline in the country. This deal extends a previously standing agreement between the two countries that expired earlier last week. Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said the agreement secures a transit capacity of 750,000 bpd. It runs from Iraq’s northern oil fields to Turkiye’s Mediterranean export terminal at Ceyhan. It is currently transporting roughly 170,000 bpd but plans are being put in place to maximize the pipelines total capacity and even to extend the existing transit network to connect directly with southern Iraqi oil fields under a future framework.