Saudi Arabia ramped up crude oil loadings to nine supertankers, marking its highest export activity since February, as European natural gas prices reached a record 269% gain for 2026. Meanwhile, a fourth supertanker caught fire in the Strait of Hormuz, and high freight rates choked Asian fuel arbitrage routes.
Global market
Nine Very Large Crude Carriers loaded oil cargoes at Saudi Arabian export terminals, achieving the highest export activity since hostilities began in late February, according to European Union Sentinel 2 satellite data. Meanwhile, a fourth oil supertanker caught fire in the Strait of Hormuz after striking a mine, according to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. In shipping logistics, high freight rates closed the arbitrage window for European low-sulfur fuel oil shipments to Singapore for November, despite record price spreads between Singapore and Rotterdam. Additionally, the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles projected clean methanol bunker fuel demand to reach 250,000 tons by 2030 under joint green corridor initiatives.
Russia & CIS
Natural gas in the European Union became the world’s fastest-gaining commodity of 2026, with exchange prices surging 269.11% year-to-date (249% in the UK) to hit highs not seen since late 2022. On diplomatic and trade fronts, the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control extended the operating license for Serbian oil company NIS until December 11. Concurrently, Thailand expressed appreciation to Russia for supporting free trade agreement negotiations with the EAEU, while the MOL refinery near Budapest resumed operations following a fire. In Ukraine, Russian strikes damaged DTEK energy infrastructure in the Dnipropetrovsk region, triggering local power blackouts.
Armenia
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps reported that a fourth supertanker caught fire in the Strait of Hormuz, worsening regional shipping risks as Qatari liquefied natural gas exports dropped 80%. Despite European natural gas prices surging 269.11% since the start of the year, retail prices for petrol, diesel, and compressed natural gas in Armenia remain stable. Direct natural gas supplies from Russia and electricity generation at the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant continue at full capacity under long-term EAEU contracts, protecting the domestic market from global price shocks recorded in international market price assessments.