This edition captures the most significant and unexpected developments from the latter half of the day, highlighting the surprise transit of 40 tankers through the blockaded Strait of Hormuz, a major fiscal push within the European Union for windfall taxes on oil majors, and Moscow’s firm diplomatic defense of Armenia’s Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant.
Here is the complete news article:
US intelligence tracks sudden Hormuz oil transit surge
US intelligence reports that 40 tankers successfully transported 16 million barrels of oil through the blockaded Strait of Hormuz on August 21, challenging assumptions of a complete regional shutdown. Meanwhile, six EU nations have proposed a windfall tax on oil companies to capture soaring wartime profits, and Moscow has defended Armenia’s nuclear plant against Azerbaijani safety criticisms.
Global market
According to US intelligence data obtained by Axios correspondent Barak Ravid, approximately 16 million barrels of crude were exported through the Strait of Hormuz on August 21 across 40 tankers. This sudden transit surge occurred despite the de facto closure of the strait since late February due to the war between Iran and the US and Israel. According to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), transit through this key chokepoint had plummeted to a mere 4.9 million barrels per day in the second quarter from 21.6 million barrels per day in late 2025. This prompted Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf to warn in June that the waterway’s management would “never return” to its pre-war state.
Concurrently, soaring prices have triggered a major fiscal backlash in Europe, where six EU nations proposed a special windfall tax on oil companies to curb massive corporate profits generated by the Middle Eastern war. In Asia, the International Energy Agency (IEA) warned that Southeast Asian countries must nearly quadruple grid investments by 2050 to modernize transmission networks in Indonesia, India, and Vietnam, which are currently struggling to absorb renewable energy capacity.
Russia & CIS
The military conflict continues to disrupt fuel infrastructure as Russian forces launched Iskander missile strikes near Boryspil, reportedly destroying up to 40 heavy vehicles configured for drone launches, while also striking fuel reservoirs and an arms transport vessel at the port of Chornomorsk. On the regulatory front, Vice Premier Alexander Novak announced that Moscow will balance its domestic motor fuel market through imports if necessary, and that the Ministry of Energy and the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) will sign model agreements with independent and small-to-medium refineries to cap wholesale fuel prices. Novak assured that Russia’s domestic market remains fully supplied with diesel fuel, with pipeline export volumes successfully redirected inland, bypassing previous export logistics bottlenecks.
Armenia
In a strong diplomatic intervention, Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Maria Zakharova rejected assertions that the Rosatom-backed Metsamor NPP poses a regional threat, characterizing them as a calculated attempt to drive a wedge between Moscow and Yerevan. Zakharova’s remarks followed public comments by Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev, who criticized the Armenian NPP as obsolete. Zakharova countered by emphasizing that the IAEA regularly confirms the reliability and safety of the Metsamor NPP.
This nuclear safety dispute unfolds as Armenia continues to secure its energy requirements under the EAEU integration framework, shielding local consumers from the geopolitical volatility affecting global energy corridors. Bilateral agreements with Russia guarantee duty-free imports of Russian natural gas and refined petroleum products at stable, non-market rates, fully insulating Armenia’s retail tariffs from fluctuations in international market price assessments.
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