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Letter from London: The oil market should panic tomorrow
Emergency oil stocks provide a last line of defence to oil market shocks, so the IEA’s unprecedented 400m bl release represents something of a double-edged sword
The diesel crisis
By shutting the Strait of Hormuz, Iran has cut exports of distillate-rich Middle Eastern crude, jet fuel and diesel, and is holding the energy market hostage
Middle East oil vulnerabilities have been exposed
The killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei in US–Israeli strikes marks the most serious escalation in the region in decades and a bigger potential threat to the oil market than the start of the Russia-Ukraine crisis
How Hormuz chokehold threatens LNG buyers
A potential blockade of the Strait of Hormuz following the escalating US-Iran conflict risks disrupting Qatari LNG exports that underpin global gas markets, exposing Asia and other markets to sharp price spikes, cargo shortages and renewed reliance on dirtier fuels
Kazakhstan lays groundwork for transformation
The country is pushing to increase production and expand key projects despite challenges including OPEC+ discipline and the limitations of its export infrastructure
Letter from Iran: Testing times for Tehran-Beijing crude dynamics
Growing pressure from the Trump administration continues to threaten a resilient China-Iran oil nexus
Turkey locks in more Azeri gas
New long-term deal is latest addition to country’s rapidly evolving supply portfolio as it eyes role as regional gas hub
Explainer: Iran’s indispensable energy role
The country’s global energy importance and domestic political fate are interlocked, highlighting its outsized oil and gas powers, and the heightened fallout risk
The curious case of oil-on-water
The market is facing being drowned in excess crude, but one caveat is that a large chunk is due to buyers reluctant to snap up sanctioned barrels
Turkmenistan's pipe dream
Construction of the pipeline in Afghanistan is making tangible progress, but extending it into Pakistan and India remains unrealistic for political reasons
Kazakhstan Turkmenistan Iran Azerbaijan
Ian Lewis
17 August 2018
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Caspian neither a sea nor a lake, apparently

An agreement of sorts has been reached on how to carve up the Caspian

The five countries bordering the Caspian Sea have come up with a fudged definition of its status, which while potentially confusing, has at least broken an impasse over how to divide up its waters and seabed. In doing so it could jolt some stalled oil and gas developments back into life. For years, the nations around the Caspian have haggled over whether the world's largest inland body of water should be classified as a sea or a lake. In the end, following a mid-August meeting in the Kazakh port of Aktau, those countries - Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan—agreed that it should be classified as neither and be subject to a special set of rules. It's not an academic exercis

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Letter from London: The oil market should panic tomorrow
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Emergency oil stocks provide a last line of defence to oil market shocks, so the IEA’s unprecedented 400m bl release represents something of a double-edged sword
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