Tuesday, 22 September 2026

US Central Command reported Saturday that crude oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz have exceeded 1 billion barrels in recent months while a US military blockade has been in place, Anadolu Agency reported.

Combined volumes of crude, cargo and liquefied natural gas crossing the waterway over the previous two weeks reached a six-month peak, CENTCOM said, according to Middle East Eye. Bloomberg cited a regional US commander who said the shipment volumes followed US naval protection and mine clearance work in the strait.

Admiral Brad Cooper put the number of commercial vessel transits aided by coordinated US protection at more than 2,000, Saudi Gazette reported. Mines have been removed from the strait's main transit lanes, opening passage to thousands of ships, Cooper said in the same report.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent met Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in New York on Sunday, staging ground for a summit between US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping later in the week, according to Semafor Net Zero.

Bessent said the discussions with He would "set the stage" for the Trump-Xi meeting on Thursday, and described his approach as "focused, fulsome, and constructive talks," per Semafor Net Zero.

The leaders' meeting is expected to cover tariffs, rare earth minerals, and AI, Semafor Net Zero reported.

Pakistan ranks among the countries most exposed to liquefied natural gas supply shocks in the event of any closure of the Strait of Hormuz, according to a report cited by Dawn.

The concentration of supply drives that vulnerability. Qatar and the United Arab Emirates together account for about 99% of Pakistan's LNG imports, which feed power generation, fertiliser production and industrial users, the report said. LNG makes up around 30% of the country's total gas supply.

To cushion that exposure, the Dawn report said Pakistan needs to accelerate investment in renewable energy, coal and domestic energy infrastructure to strengthen long-term energy security.

The US president signed into law a legislative package that cleared the House of Representatives, according to Archyde.

The framework hands the executive branch leverage to penalize third-party countries that keep buying discounted petroleum and gas from sanctioned regimes, per Archyde.

Archyde characterizes the move as a shift by Washington from direct embargoes toward coercive trade measures aimed at the secondary trade in Russian energy.

Iran's oil loadings fell to around 220,000 to 260,000 barrels per day in August, according to cryptobriefing.com. That is down from between 1.7 million and 2.0 million barrels per day earlier in 2026, the outlet reported.

The drop is attributed to renewed U.S. sanctions and a naval blockade, which cryptobriefing.com says have sharply cut Iranian oil production and significantly affected the country's export capabilities.

Qatari Energy Minister Saad Al-Kaabi said US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was wrong to argue that the Strait of Hormuz would be worthless in two years, according to Moneycontrol.

Al-Kaabi directly rebutted Bessent's projection on the strategic waterway's future relevance, Moneycontrol reported.

Separately, Bessent has been defending the stability of the American government-bond market, pushing back against pessimistic assessments that have driven long-term borrowing costs to highs, according to Archyde.

Indiana Supreme Court justices sketched a possible middle-ground ruling in a dispute over a Duke Energy Indiana gas project, according to reporting by the Pharos-Tribune and CNHI News. The outcome could upend precedent that allows advocacy groups to sue on behalf of their members.

At issue is Duke's request to build two natural gas-fired units at the existing Cayuga Generating Station in Vermillion County, in western Indiana, per CNHI News.

Duke argues that the Citizens Action Coalition lacks standing, contending the group does not have a direct enough connection to the matter to qualify as a plaintiff, according to CNHI News.

The Citizens Action Coalition and Vote Solar opposed Duke's use of construction-work-in-progress financing, arguing the mechanism would force customers to pay higher prices before the proposed gas units come online and deliver any electricity, CNHI News reported.

At a resilience forum in Taipei on Saturday, foreign representatives from the UK, EU and US said rising Chinese maritime activity could shift the operating environment around Taiwan and recommended stronger energy and critical infrastructure resilience, according to Nikkei Asia as cited by Taiwan News.

British representative Ruth Bradley-Jones told the forum that maritime activity around Taiwan had climbed sharply from a year earlier, putting the increase at "double or triple," per Nikkei Asia.

EU representative Lutz Gullner said Taiwan remains heavily reliant on imported energy and other resources.

Speakers at the forum said a blockade or quarantine could cut Taiwan's access to fuel and other essential commodities, pointing to reserves and alternative supply arrangements as mitigants.

Nigeria's Federal Government has no plan to raise electricity tariffs, Power Minister Joseph Tegbe said, according to Punch.

Tegbe made the statement at a media parley in Abuja marking his first 100 days in office, a period covering June 8 to September 16, Punch reported.

Blueprint, reporting the same position, framed it as no immediate plan to increase tariffs.

Indian refiners are looking for alternatives to Russian crude for November delivery after the United States enacted a sanctions law that could expose buyers of Russian oil to fresh tariffs, according to a Bloomberg report cited by Investing.com.

The Hindu BusinessLine reported that refiners eyeing November cargoes could scale back Russian purchases after the sweeping US sanctions bill was signed into law, raising the threat of new punitive tariffs.

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said India would review the legislation before responding. "The details are now emerging. We will study them and discuss the matter at an appropriate time," he said, according to Moneycontrol. OMMCOM News carried the same remarks from Goyal on India's approach to the new US law targeting buyers of Russian oil.

The 100% tariff referenced in coverage of the law is the maximum permitted under the statute rather than an automatic duty, OMMCOM News reported.

Tenaga Nasional will allocate MYR120 million to MYR150 million to absorb additional household fuel costs from September through December 2026. The utility is shouldering charges that would otherwise pass through to residential bills under an expanded subsidy exemption.

The allocation covers more than eight million domestic users consuming between 600 kWh and 800 kWh of electricity per month. The expanded exemption applies to the monthly automatic fuel adjustment, the retail charge, and sales and service tax.

RHB Research estimated that the allocation would represent about 2% to 3% of its forecast for Tenaga Nasional's financial-year 2026 earnings, according to analyst Max Koh. On that basis, the absorbed cost is a limited hit to the utility's full-year profit line even as it removes a tariff pass-through mechanism for the covered consumption band over the four-month window.

The New South Wales government has opened consultation on a proposal to establish Australia's first mandatory solar panel recycling scheme, according to PV Magazine.

Under the draft product stewardship scheme, solar manufacturers and importers supplying regulated photovoltaic (PV) panels into the state would be required to help fund collection, recycling and resource recovery, PV Magazine reported.

The stated intent is to ensure valuable solar panel materials are recovered, reused and recycled rather than dumped.

Submissions on the draft regulation and issues paper are open until 16 November, per PV Magazine.