The Constitutional Court of South Africa has halted Shell’s offshore oil exploration, delivering a major setback to the country’s energy sector as tightening global feedstocks force US West Coast refiners to seek alternative Asian supplies. Meanwhile, Russian officials ordered emergency measures to secure regional retail fuel markets as escalating Black Sea security risks continue to disrupt shipping transits.
Global market
South Africa’s Constitutional Court on Friday blocked Shell-led oil and gas exploration along the country’s eastern Wild Coast, overturning a 2024 Supreme Court of Appeal decision. The ruling cancels the exploration rights originally granted in 2014 to London-based oil major Shell and its partner Impact Africa following legal challenges from local communities and environmental coalitions. This judicial setback occurs as Brent crude prices march toward a 5% weekly gain, driven by deadlocked US-Iran negotiations and persistent tanker attacks in the Strait of Hormuz.
The blockade of the vital Middle Eastern chokepoint has severely disrupted global refinery feedstocks, prompting US West Coast refiners to tap Malaysian supply for the first time in three years. Tanker tracking data shows the vessel Solomon Sea, carrying over 540,000 barrels of low-sulfur straight-run (LSSR) fuel oil, recently departed from Malaysia’s PRefChem refinery, operated by state oil and gas giant Petronas. Meanwhile, Kazakhstan has launched a confidential arbitration case alleging that international majors and state-owned KazMunayGas inflated costs and distributed bribes worth USD 10.7 billion in contracts at the giant Kashagan oilfield. In other energy news, Indian Coal Secretary Vikram Dev Dutt projected that India’s coal demand will surge to 1.6 billion tons by 2030 from 1.2 billion tons today, with New Delhi planning a national coal exchange to boost energy security.
Russia & CIS
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak convened an urgent meeting with regional governors and oil executives, instructing them to implement additional measures to secure fuel supplies in regions where retail market conditions remain highly tense. Domestic trading data reflects these growing supply pressures, as gasoline sales of AI-92 and AI-95 on the St. Petersburg exchange fell by 19.3% and 20.4% respectively since early August, even as weekly European-zone AI-92 wholesale prices ticked down 1.2% to 72,400 rubles per ton. Regional distribution faces further complications as Turkey sharply reduced its imports of Russian crude due to frequent Ukrainian drone strikes on tankers and ports in the Black Sea. On the military front, the Russian Ministry of Defense confirmed its forces struck a fuel storage tank in the port of Odesa and a military warehouse in Yuzhny.
The European Union’s energy ties with Moscow remain significant, with the bloc purchasing EUR 1.5 billion of Russian fuel in July, of which 26% was crude oil. However, overall EU imports of Russian pipeline gas and LNG dropped by 3% in the first half of the year to EUR 2.9 billion. Elsewhere, a massive power grid failure triggered a simultaneous blackout across Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan on Friday, though Kazakh operator KEGOC restored electricity to the Almaty hub by 16:12 local time.
Armenia
While Armenia’s internal energy grid maintained stability, its economic and logistical dependencies are facing significant external pressures. As reported by the Armenian news portal News.am, the Russian government has officially acknowledged that the fuel supply situation at its domestic retail gas stations is highly tense, which signals growing supply risks for Armenia as Russia is its primary EAEU petroleum supplier. Financial frictions within the trade bloc have also intensified, with commercial banks across several EAEU nations sharply raising commissions on cash Russian ruble deposits, complicating cross-border transaction settlements for Armenian exporters.
Furthermore, Turkey’s decision to curtail Russian crude imports due to escalating Black Sea maritime drone threats continues to alter transit dynamics along Armenia’s western borders. To protect its domestic market from global price volatility, Armenia remains deeply reliant on bilateral agreements within the EAEU framework. These pacts secure predictable, tariff-exempt natural gas and petroleum shipments from Russia, protecting Armenian businesses and households from price spikes in global spot markets governed by highly volatile international market price assessments.
📊 I can prepare an interactive map illustrating the alternative shipping routes for refinery feedstocks from Southeast Asia to the US West Coast to help you analyze how global supply chains are adapting to the Hormuz blockade.