The United States completely suspended its crude oil imports from Saudi Arabia in July for the first time in forty years, marking a dramatic shift in global trade flows. Meanwhile, European natural gas prices jumped by more than 10 percent as extreme drought and grid damage severely strained regional utility networks.
Global market
According to the US Department of Energy, July imports of Saudi crude oil into the US fell to zero, representing the first such occurrence since 1985. This supply-side reallocation comes amid worsening transit friction in the Middle East, where daily dry-bulk transits through the Strait of Hormuz have dropped by roughly half since US Central Command implemented a renewed naval blockade on July 14, 2026. High prices have triggered a retail security crisis in Europe; in the UK, drivers are stealing $270,000 worth of fuel daily as driving costs reach record highs. At the same time, energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie warned that high fuel prices and logistical bottlenecks will prevent Southeast Asian economies from delivering more than a third of their planned gas-fired power capacity. In corporate developments, mining and trading giant Glencore, led by Chief Executive Gary Nagle, announced plans to launch a secondary listing in Australia to address the undervaluation and low liquidity of its shares in London.
Russia & CIS
Russia’s crude oil and condensate production expanded by approximately 100,000 barrels per day in July to exceed 9 million barrels per day, supported by stronger export volumes and recovering refinery operations. In diplomatic friction, Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar rejected European demands to provide certificates of origin for transit gas to prove it does not originate from Russia, stating that such verification is “technically impossible” once fuels mix in a shared pipeline. Meanwhile, Moldova’s Ministry of Energy reported that a damaged Balti-Dnestrovsk power transmission line connecting the republic to Ukraine will require up to seven days of repair. To stabilize energy corridors, Croatian pipeline operator JANAF and Hungarian energy firm MOL successfully settled their dispute over oil transit tariffs for 2026.
Armenia
While domestic retail prices remained steady, Andrei Slepnev, Minister of Trade of the Eurasian Economic Commission, announced that the comprehensive economic partnership agreement between the EAEU and the UAE will officially enter into force on October 6, 2026. This trade pact is set to enhance long-term economic coordination across the bloc. At the EAEU summit in Kyrgyzstan, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin met with Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov to review collaborative energy projects.
Regionally, severe climate pressures continue to expose the fragility of European utility infrastructures. Romania has resorted to sinking barges loaded with stones into the Danube River to raise water levels and protect its sole operating nuclear power plant from a drought-induced shutdown. These critical regional utility crises highlight the vital importance of maintaining independent domestic power generation, allowing Armenia to insulate its consumer markets from having to secure electricity at rates determined by highly volatile international market price assessments.
📊 I can prepare a detailed visual chart of the decline in US imports of Saudi crude oil over the past decade to help you analyze this historic shift in global trade.