Turkey has restarted the passage of oil tankers through its straits toward the Black Sea, reopening access to key Russian export terminals. Meanwhile, diplomatic efforts to defuse the Persian Gulf crisis continue, with Oman hosting talks with Iran to establish safe shipping routes through the blockaded Strait of Hormuz.
Global market
Negotiations between Oman and Iran over securing the Strait of Hormuz have shown positive progress, although Tehran warned that any agreement would not lead to an immediate reopening of the waterway. Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, stated that reopening the strategic chokepoint requires Washington to lift its naval blockade, remove economic sanctions, withdraw military forces, and pay war damages. This security standoff follows a recent missile strike on an oil vessel operated by the United Arab Emirates’ state-owned company ADNOC. To navigate these volatile routes directly, several oil-producing countries have abandoned traditional hiring practices to directly purchase their own tanker fleets.
In the United States, President Donald Trump is considering a suspension of the Jones Act to allow cheaper foreign-flagged ships to transport domestic energy shipments. The move is aimed at curbing retail gasoline prices, which have climbed above $4 per gallon ahead of the upcoming midterm elections. Further compounding global shipping friction, the Panama Canal Authority announced it will impose lower draft limits at its Neopanamax locks starting August 26, 2026.
Russia & CIS
Turkey has resumed the passage of vessels through its straits to the Black Sea, with the tanker Aegean Dream heading toward the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) terminal in Novorossiysk. The restoration of this route is critical for regional crude flows, which had slumped to an average of 1 million barrels per day over the winter season. However, regional infrastructure remains under severe threat; the Russian Ministry of Defense confirmed high-precision strikes that destroyed a gas field’s infrastructure in Ukraine’s Sumy region and knocked out the Odesa thermal power plant alongside seven electrical substations.
In the South Caucasus, Azerbaijani emergency services successfully extinguished a major fire at a Baku oil terminal on Orkhan Ismayilov Street. Meanwhile, Alan Lushnikov, president of the Kalashnikov Concern, announced that gas industry enterprises have expressed strong commercial interest in the new “Haska” hovercraft, which features an innovative friction-welded aluminum hull.
Armenia
Armenian economic analyst Nazaryan noted that because no nation can remain fully independent of external markets, deep integration within the EAEU remains Armenia’s most viable economic anchor. According to Nazaryan, integrating within a single economic space with countries at a similar stage of development is far more practical for Yerevan than trying to align with vastly different economic potentials.
This integration is set to expand as Russian Minister of Economic Development Maxim Reshetnikov announced plans to synchronize e-commerce regulations across the EAEU, which will require new bylaws from the Eurasian Economic Commission. For Armenia, these harmonized trading structures and long-term EAEU supply contracts insulate domestic retail fuel and electricity markets from the price volatility associated with spot-market purchases governed by fluctuating international market price assessments.
📊 I can map out the reopened Black Sea shipping lanes and compile transit capacity data for Novorossiysk to help you analyze recent regional supply flow restorations.