Markets

At the S&P Global Energy's Asia Pacific Petroleum Conference (APPEC) 2026 conference in Singapore on Sep. 9, industry executives and regional leaders underscored that Asian refiners are fundamentally realigning their procurement strategies.

Iraq more than doubled crude exports via the Strait of Hormuz in Aug. as heavy discounts and Iranian transit permissions eased export bottlenecks.

China and India are locked in a fierce competition for Russian crude as supply constraints make barrels scarcer and costlier.

A sharp divergence has emerged between US government claims and private vessel-tracking data regarding the resumption of Middle East oil exports amid the ongoing Iran war and Strait of Hormuz disruption.

China's oil demand has

As the Strait of Hormuz remains heavily disrupted by the Iran war, Gulf oil producers are deploying increasingly creative and costly workarounds to keep crude flowing to global markets.

China and Japan, Asia's two largest oil importers, have adopted fundamentally different strategies to survive the worst supply disruption in decades.

The global energy architecture is facing a compound crisis driven by structural import dependencies, geopolitically induced refining bottlenecks, and shifting product supply flows.

The escalation of the US-Iran conflict and the operational closure of the Strait of Hormuz—a crucial transit corridor historically carrying roughly 20% of global crude and refined products—have cut Middle Eastern export flows by ~5 MM b/d.

Amid a severe convergence of geopolitical disruptions—including the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, Houthi threats in the Red Sea, and escalating Ukrainian attacks on Russian energy infrastructure—Indian state-owned refiners face acute supply uncertainty.