Oil Markets

As traffic inches back through the Strait of Hormuz, oil and product flows remain constrained, sending buyers scrambling to replace Middle East barrels and lock in reliable diesel supply. With nearly 6 million b/d of Middle East refining capacity at stake, and roughly 4 million b/d of refined products flows, diesel prices have soared, opening export opportunities. Where are buyers turning for diesel, and what policy tools are governments using to soften price shocks? Jeff Mower, Americas Oil News Director, unpacks these issues with Brazil Refined Products Manager Renato Rostas, Americas Middle Distillates Managing Editor Aaron Tucker, and Mexico Energy Editor Sheky Espejo.

As the conflict in the Middle East has raised the specter of global fuel shortages, Nigeria's new Dangote refinery has attracted growing attention as an alternative supplier. After starting up in 2024, the refinery reached its initial 650,000 b/d capacity for the first time earlier in 2026 and has seen a growing demand for its products from markets further afield.
In this podcast, Gary Clark, associate director, EMEA clean refined products at S&P Global Energy, is joined by Matthew Tracey-Cook, senior price reporter on West African refined products, and Kelly Norways, a journalist on the oil news team, to discuss the capacity of Africa's first megarefinery, regional supply risks, and where its product could end up.

From CERAWEEK 2026 in Houston, host Jeff Mower, Director of Americas Oil News, is joined by Senior Upstream Editor Ashok Dutta, oil news editor Binish Azhar, and oil policy reporter Eamonn Brennan to break down the conference's energy security focus. With the Strait of Hormuz largely closed and the Trump administration negotiating with Tehran while signaling it wants to cap oil price spikes, policymakers and executives clash over how fast supply can respond. The crew explores non-Middle East supply opportunities, including rising US Gulf Coast crude fixtures, constrained by pipeline and completion capacity, and a new wave of Canadian barrels pushing toward Asia via the Pacific. A high-stakes reform pitch for Venezuela meets some skepticism.

Tensions between US-Israel and Iran are disrupting flows in the Strait of Hormuz, forcing Asia's LPG market to manage surging prices and shifting optimization to urgent supply management. With Middle East shipments threatened, especially for India and China facing low inventories and weak PDH margins, buyers are scrambling for alternative supplies and shipping.
The Platts Oil Markets Podcast covers the immediate impacts: stalled vessels, rising freight rates, record high premiums, and a rapid move toward US LPG diversification, despite export terminal disruptions. The episode also looks ahead at inventory strategies, diversification of supply sources, and whether this crisis will permanently reshape the global LPG trade.
Regina Sher, manager of the Asia oil products pricing team, and Norazlina Jumaat and Jeff Ong, reporters for Asia oil products, discuss the impact of this supply disruption on the LPG market.

Benchmark jet fuel assessments by Platts have reached all-time highs on the back of war in the Middle East. With vital middle distillate supplies locked in the Persian Gulf owing to the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the knock-on impact for both physical and financial refined products markets in Europe has been unprecedented.

In this episode of the Platts Oil Markets podcast, Gary Clark, Associate Director for EMEA Clean Refined Products, is joined by frontline reporters Aruni Sunil and Patrick McAllister to discuss the latest dynamics in the European jet fuel market.