GCC representatives attended and spoke at the S&P Global Middle East Petroleum and Gas Conference in London. KPC representative Sheikh Nawaf Al Sabah spoke on Kuwait’s ability to restore nearly 70% of its oil production after the Strait reopens and restore it’s refinery output (1.4 million bpd) to normal levels in two to three weeks. He also mentioned that Kuwait is having ongoing talks with partners on the building of a potential oil pipeline that would leave it less dependent on the Strait of Hormuz. ADNOC’s executive VP for sales and trading Philippe Khoury was also at the conference and spoke on the UAE exploring the potential of building a new pipeline to Fujairah for other oil’s besides crude.

The failure of the US and Iran to reach a peace deal after marathon negotiations has put markets on alert for further oil and gas price rises. With large numbers of oil tankers remaining stuck in the Gulf, the US vice-president, JD Vance, blamed the collapse of the talks on Tehran’s refusal to abandon its nuclear weapons programme, while Iranian sources hit back at “excessive” demands from Washington. Oil prices fluctuated wildly last week and fell below $100 a barrel on Wednesday after a two-week ceasefire was announced. They ended the week lower, with Brent crude at $94.26 a barrel, compared with a peak of $119.45 during the war and about $72 a barrel before the conflict began. The war’s impact on the global economy will dominate the International Monetary Fund and World Bank’s spring meetings in Washington, which start on Monday.

The war that closed the Strait of Hormuz has ended – for now. But Tehran’s demand to act as toll booth keeper at the world’s most critical oil chokepoint could leave energy markets vulnerable and hardwire higher prices for years to come. Tehran indicated on Tuesday that, under a permanent peace deal, it would seek to charge a fee for ships transiting the strait, which is just 34 km (21 miles) wide at its narrowest point between Iran and Oman. Reports suggest the fee could ‌be as high ⁠as $2 million per transit, roughly equal to the total cost of chartering a very large crude carrier from the Middle East to China for an entire voyage in 2025.

Iranian drones have struck Kuwait’s oil infrastructure, causing “severe material damage” that threatens to further disrupt oil supplies already hit by the US-Israel war on Iran. The drone strikes on Sunday came hours before members of the Opec+ group of major global oil suppliers gathered to discuss how to bolster output despite Iran’s effective closure of the strait of Hormuz shipping route. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it had attacked petrochemical plants in Kuwait. Members of Opec+ said on Sunday that repairing energy facilities damaged in recent attacks would be costly and take a long time, and would potentially hit global oil supplies well into the future. The conflict has now resulted in the largest disruption to oil supplies in history.

Indian gas firm GAIL (GAIL.NS), has bought an Omani ​liquefied natural gas cargo as the ‌South Asian nation attempts to meet its natural gas demand, three trade sources said. GAIL has ​bought the prompt cargo for delivery ​next week from a European trader ⁠through negotiations at a fixed price of $17-$20 ​per million British thermal units, two of ​the three sources said. The cargo loaded on the vessel Orion Hugo, chartered by Shell, is scheduled ​to arrive in India around March ​15, Kpler data shows. India meets half of its 195 million standard cubic metres per day (mmscmd) of natural gas consumption through imports. The country was ​getting about ​60 mmscmd ⁠gas from the Middle East before the closure of the Strait ​of Hormuz and force majeure by ​its ⁠biggest supplier Qatar.

National oil company Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) has held early stage talks with a large group of potential investors over a $7 billion stake sale in its crude oil pipelines, three sources familiar with the matter said, following similar moves by Gulf peers Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. BlackRock, Brookfield Asset Management, EIG Partners and buyout group KKR are among those that have shown interest, the sources said. Also showing interest are Chinese state enterprises China Silk Road Fund and China Merchants Capital, along with I Squared Capital and Macquarie Infrastructure Partners, the sources said. The transaction is structured with around $1.5 billion in equity and the remainder financed through debt, the three sources said. Kuwait Petroleum Corp in late 2023 said it will spend $410 billion through 2040 on a strategy that aims to boost production capacity to 4 million barrels per day.

Iraq could nearly double its output from the West Qurna 2 oilfield to 800,000 barrels per day (bpd) as Chevron (CVX.N) enters exclusive talks to take over operations from Russia’s Lukoil, Iraq’s oil minister said on Wednesday. Iraq has been seeking to increase oil and gas production, with oil majors vying to expand operations after scaling back during years of political instability. Oil Minister Hayan Abdel-Ghani told Kurdish TV channel Rudaw that output could rise to between 750,000 and 800,000 bpd after Chevron takes over operations at the field. The U.S. company has secured exclusive negotiations to take over the project. Iraq, the second-largest producer within the OPEC+ group comprising the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies including Russia, plans to raise oil production capacity to more than 6 million bpd by 2029. The deal would expand Chevron’s footprint by giving it control of one of the world’s largest oilfields, which accounts for nearly 10% of Iraq’s production and about 0.5% of global supply. The deal could also bolster relations between Baghdad and Washington, which threatened to curb Iraq’s access to oil revenue if Iranian-backed groups were included in the coming government.

Under the supervision of the Ministry of Energy, four Saudi companies signed agreements on December 10 with the Syrian Petroleum Co. covering technical support, development, and production in Syria’s oil and gas fields. The deal aims to improve operational efficiency and boost output by applying integrated, advanced solutions for well construction and maintenance. Officials emphasized that the cooperation will draw on the latest global technologies and modern equipment to strengthen field performance and expand production capacity. These agreements come as an extension of the existing cooperation between the Kingdom and the Syrian Arab Republic in the energy sector, and within the framework of implementing the memoranda of understanding signed on Aug. 28, and the resulting workshops and field visits to related fields and facilities. 

ExxonMobil, Aramco, and Samref have signed a Venture Framework Agreement (VFA) to evaluate a major upgrade of the Samref refinery in Yanbu and its expansion into an integrated petrochemical complex. The companies will explore capital investments to upgrade and diversify production, including high-quality distillates with lower emissions and high-performance chemicals, as well as opportunities to enhance energy efficiency and reduce operational emissions through an integrated emissions-reduction strategy. Samref is an equally owned joint venture between Aramco and Mobil Yanbu Refining Company Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of ExxonMobil. The refinery currently has the capacity to process more than 400,000 barrels of crude oil per day, producing a wide range of energy products, including propane, automotive diesel, marine heavy fuel oil, and sulphur.

Abu Dhabi state oil firm ADNOC’s trading unit plans to boost the volume it handles by two-thirds over the next few years as part of its international expansion, Bloomberg News reported on Friday, citing its CEO. ADNOC has accelerated its global expansion in recent years to diversify revenue for the Gulf state, including building up trading operations since 2018. The state-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Company sees trading as a way to capture more value from the sale of fuels produced in the emirate and abroad, Ahmed bin Thalith, chief executive officer of ADNOC Global Trading, told Bloomberg in an interview published on Friday.

Saudi Arabia has stated that it will supply Syria with 1.65 million barrels of crude oil as Damascus struggles to rebuild the country’s economy and infrastructure after their nearly 14-year-long civil war. The state-run Saudi Press Agency announced that the CEO of the Saudi Fund for Development, Sultan Al-Marshad, and Syria’s Minister of Energy Mohammad al-Bashir had signed a memorandum of understanding.

Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) has signed an agreement with the Ministry of Electricity, Water and Renewable Energy (MEWRE) to connect 1GW of renewable energy plants to the national grid. KOC plans to set up solar and wind energy plants to boost power supply to its facilities. The MoU aims to coordinate efforts and address challenges in implementing renewable energy projects. This initiative will cut carbon emissions, relieve the national grid, and support Kuwait’s energy transition strategy and goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.