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MAXI STORAGE BV | ENERGY & MARITIME MARKET UPDATE TANKER TRAFFIC SLOWS FURTHER AS OIL PRICES RISE

Tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz slowed further over the weekend, adding renewed pressure to global oil markets as geopolitical uncertainty continues to affect maritime energy flows.

According to data cited by Reuters from Kpler, only five commodity vessels transited the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, while no commodity vessels were scheduled to transit on Sunday. This compares with 31 tankers recorded passing through the waterway during the previous weekend. The figures do not include vessels operating in so-called “dark mode.”

At the time of reporting, Brent crude was trading around $88.62 per barrel, while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) stood at approximately $82.18 per barrel. Brent had earlier moved above $89 per barrel before retreating.

GEOPOLITICAL RISK RETURNS TO OIL MARKETS

Reduced tanker movements through one of the world's most important energy corridors are increasing concerns over transportation delays, supply-chain disruption, freight costs, and energy-market volatility.

Recent reported attacks involving tankers in the Persian Gulf, together with renewed uncertainty surrounding U.S.–Iran relations, have contributed to a stronger geopolitical risk premium in crude oil markets.

Oil prices gained approximately 5% last week, reversing much of the decline seen earlier in August.

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR GLOBAL OIL LOGISTICS

Continued uncertainty around the Strait of Hormuz could have wider implications for:

• Tanker scheduling and voyage planning
• Petroleum supply-chain continuity
• Marine transportation and insurance costs
• Refinery feedstock availability
• Regional and global storage demand
• Crude oil and refined-product price volatility

For storage operators and energy logistics companies, developments around major maritime chokepoints reinforce the importance of strategic storage capacity, flexible terminal planning, and supply-chain resilience.

Maxi Storage BV continues to monitor developments across the international energy and maritime logistics markets, with particular attention to major shipping corridors and their impact on petroleum storage and terminal operations.

Contact our commercial and operations team for storage and terminal inquiries.

OPEC oil output has declined to its lowest level since 2000, with production falling by 830,000 barrels per day (bpd) to an average of 20.04 million bpd in April, according to a Reuters survey published Monday.

Kuwait recorded the largest production drop, with reports indicating it exported zero crude in April thanks to its total reliance on the Strait of Hormuz.

Saudi Arabia and Iraq also saw significant output decreases as they were forced to shut-in production. Saudi production dropped towards 7 million barrels per day (bpd) following attacks on energy infrastructure, including a 600,000 bpd capacity loss from damaged facilities. However, the kingdom has primarily been using the 1,200 km East-West Pipeline (Petroline) that connects Abqaiq on the Persian Gulf to the port of Yanbu on the Red Sea to transport its oil. Oil is loaded onto tankers at the Yanbu terminal, avoiding the need for ships to pass through the Strait of Hormuz.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) was the only Gulf member that was able to increase production in April. The UAE was able to leverage the Fujairah terminal on the Gulf of Oman to bypass the bottleneck, allowing it to export more crude than its peers. The UAE is producing roughly 3.2 to 3.6 million barrels of oil per day, though some estimates indicate a capacity as high as 4 million barrels per day. The state-owned ADNOC is actively expanding, targeting a production capacity of 5 million barrels per day by 2027 after it exited OPEC and OAPEC in early May, 2026.

Both Venezuela and Libya were able to increase their oil production in April, though these gains were insufficient to offset the massive supply disruptions caused by conflict in the Persian Gulf. Venezuela’s oil exports rose to 1.23 million barrels per day (bpd) in April, the highest level since 2018, following eased U.S. sanctions earlier in the year and improved operational stability in the Orinoco Belt. Meanwhile, Libya’s production reached 1.43 million bpd, good for a 10-year high as the National Oil Corporation repaired infrastructure and worked to increase output despite ongoing regional tensions.

Inpex, the Japanese energy firm that operates the Ichthys LNG plant offshore Western Australia, is raising condensate supply from the project to the local Australian market, which grapples with a fuel crisis in the wake of the Middle East war.

Inpex on Monday said that it "is taking decisive action to support Australia's fuel security by making additional Ichthys condensate cargoes available to domestic refiners, helping ensure reliable fuel supply amid ongoing global uncertainty."

A condensate cargo of about 630,000 barrels will depart from Ichthys in the Browse Basin offshore Western Australia in late April 2026, with delivery to one of Australia's east coast refineries scheduled for May. Condensate is a critical feedstock for local refineries, underpinning the production of essential transport fuels such as petrol, diesel, and jet fuel.

Inpex also plans to offer another condensate cargo of a similar size in the coming months. The second cargo will be preferentially offered to Australian refineries, with timing and delivery subject to the refinery's operational requirements and agreement on commercial terms, the operator of the Ichthys LNG project said.

"Making additional Ichthys condensate available to Australian refineries demonstrates our strong partnership with industry and government and our responsibility as a long-term supplier supporting Australia's energy security," said Tetsu Murayama, INPEX Managing Director, Country Chair Australia.

Australia relies on imports of petroleum products despite being a major gas and oil producer.

The war in the Middle East roiled global oil and fuel markets, forcing Australia's government to intervene to preserve domestic supply and protect consumers by halving the fuel excise on gasoline and diesel for three months in a bid to alleviate financial stress from spiking fuel prices.

Santos is sharpening its Alaska growth story after reporting a successful appraisal result at Quokka-1, a well the company says could support another major North Slope oil development alongside the soon-to-start Pikka project.

The Australian producer said Quokka-1 encountered around 143 feet of net oil pay in the Nanushuk formation, with an average porosity of 19%. After a single-stage fracture stimulation, the well flowed at 2,190 barrels per day, reinforcing management’s view that Quokka could become a material addition to its Alaska portfolio.

Santos holds a 51% operating stake in the Quokka Unit, with Repsol owning the remaining 49%.

The result matters because Quokka sits close to existing Santos infrastructure and acreage on Alaska’s North Slope, roughly six miles from the Mitquq-1 discovery well drilled in 2020. Santos said reservoir sands correlate between the two wells, while fluid analysis confirmed light-gravity crude. That points to stronger well performance and potentially better pricing than Pikka oil, an important detail as producers focus not just on volumes but on realized margins.

Management said the new data support the potential for a two-drill-site development with output capacity comparable to Pikka phase 1. Santos has already begun development planning and key permitting work. At the end of fiscal 2025, the company had reported 2C contingent resources of 177 million barrels of oil equivalent for Quokka, with a revised estimate due as part of its FY26 contingent resource assessment.

The appraisal success comes at a pivotal moment for Santos in Alaska. Pikka phase 1, one of the most closely watched oil developments in the region, is now mechanically complete and moving through commissioning. Santos said fuel gas has been introduced to the plant, and first oil is expected in the coming weeks.

By the end of the first quarter of 2026, 24 development wells had been drilled at Pikka, while 20 had been fractured and flowed back in line with expectations. The company said plateau production capacity of 80,000 barrels per day is expected in mid-2026. First sales revenue is projected roughly two months after initial oil, once the pipeline fill, inventory build, and the first cargo shipment are completed.

That timeline is significant for investors because Pikka is central to Santos’ medium-term liquids growth strategy. If Quokka moves ahead as a second Nanushuk development, it could extend the company’s Alaskan runway and deepen its exposure to one of the most promising new oil provinces in North America.

Outside Alaska, Santos also used the update to outline progress at the Barossa Gas Project. The company said three cargoes were sold during the first quarter, though production was limited by commissioning work. Dry gas seals on the FPSO compressors have now been replaced, while blocked heat exchangers are being flushed and cleaned. Santos expects the start-up around April 18.

Taken together, the update gives Santos three near-term catalysts: a potentially commercial new Alaska oil development at Quokka, first oil from Pikka, and a return to full-rate gas production at Barossa. For a company under pressure to convert years of project spending into cash flow, the next several weeks could be decisive.

Europe Braces for Prolonged Energy Crisis as Supplies Tighten Europeans must prepare for an extended period of tight oil and gas supplies, the EU’s energy commissioner Dan Jørgensen told the Financial Times.

This will be a long crisis . . . energy prices will be higher for a very long time,” Jørgensen told the FT, adding that with some “critical” products the situation was about to become “even worse in the weeks to come”.

The commissioner said that the crisis hadn’t struck yet but also admitted that “The rhetoric that we’re using and the words we’re using are more serious now than they were earlier in the crisis,” adding that “It certainly is our analysis that this will be a prolonged situation and countries need to be sure that they . . . have what they need.

Yesterday, Jørgensen told an informal meeting of EU energy ministers that oil and gas prices will not return to pre-war levels soon even if the conflict in the Middle East were to end today. In financial terms, 30 days of conflict have already added $16.2 billion (14 billion euros) to the EU’s oil and gas import bill, the commissioner added.

In terms of supply, the situation appears to be most concerning in jet fuel and diesel. Europe is heavily dependent on jet fuel and diesel from the Middle East, so as supply got severely disrupted, prices soared, especially in jet fuel. Diesel prices, meanwhile, hit $200 per barrel this week, after three tankers carrying diesel from the United States to Europe switched routes and are now headed for Africa, Bloomberg reported Thursday. Another tanker that loaded diesel from the UK is en route to Australia, which is also suffering a massive fuel crunch.

Global Energy Markets Face Disruption as Strait of Hormuz Traffic Collapses

Global oil markets are facing growing uncertainty as tensions around the Strait of Hormuz threaten one of the world’s most critical energy transit routes.

According to comments from Saad al-Kaabi, oil prices could surge to $150 per barrel within weeks if tanker traffic through the Strait remains severely restricted.

Recent reports indicate that Kuwait, one of the founding members of Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, has already begun shutting in production at several oilfields due to storage limitations and export disruptions. Discussions are also underway to further reduce both production and refining operations to prioritize domestic supply.

Meanwhile, QatarEnergy has declared force majeure on LNG deliveries following disruptions at its Ras Laffan Industrial City, the world’s largest LNG export complex, after a drone attack and the near halt of tanker traffic through the Strait.

Shipping activity through the Strait has dropped dramatically—from an average of 138 vessels per day to just two vessels within a 24-hour period, according to the Joint Maritime Information Center. Notably, neither of those vessels were oil tankers.

Several dozen tankers remain stranded near the area, with some reportedly targeted in attacks, while insurers have withdrawn war-risk coverage. This has effectively paralyzed a significant portion of global energy trade originating from the Middle East.

Industry analysts warn that if the disruption continues, major exporters across the Gulf region may be forced to declare force majeure on oil and gas exports. Even if stability returns quickly, it could take weeks or months for global energy logistics and supply chains to fully normalize.

For storage and logistics operators, the situation underscores the critical role of strategic storage capacity and resilient supply chains in maintaining energy market stability during geopolitical disruptions kindly reach out for your reservation.

Oil prices dropped Thursday after the International Energy Agency cut its demand growth outlook, a revision that landed in a market already uneasy about how quickly supply is said to be rising.

Brent crude traded near $67 a barrel in the afternoon, down roughly 3% on the session. U.S. WTI slipped into the $62s. Selling accelerated after the IEA trimmed its 2026 global demand growth forecast to 850,000 barrels per day. A month ago, it was expecting 930,000.

The number itself is not as dramatic as the context. The agency still sees global supply expanding by about 2.4 million bpd this year. Put the two figures side by side and the balance starts to look heavy, especially once winter disruptions unwind.

January tightened the market for a moment. Storms shut in more than 1 million bpd in North America. Kazakhstan, Russia, and Venezuela were dealing with outages of their own. Global supply fell by roughly 1.2 million bpd. Those barrels are now starting to return.

OPEC is projecting much stronger demand growth, above 1.4 million bpd, and that split in outlook has become a fault line for traders. Thursday’s price move suggests the market is taking full advantage of the IEA’s slower-growth view, at least for now.

The downgrade lands as hedge funds and other money managers have already been trimming bullish crude positions. A softer demand outlook gives traders another reason to question how tight the market will look by midyear.

The focus is shifting away from short-term outages and back to the second half of the year. If production rebounds as expected while demand growth softens, inventories build. That risk is what weighed on crude during the session.

Washington is starting to ask the quiet part out loud: who, exactly, is making money off Venezuela’s oil?

This week, U.S. Representative Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on a House investigative committee, sent letters to Vitol and Trafigura demanding records of any communications they’ve had with the Trump administration since January of last year. The timing is not subtle. U.S. forces captured Venezuela’s longtime strongman Nicolás Maduro earlier this month, and Washington has since taken control of Venezuelan oil sales on what it has described as an indefinite basis.

Vitol and Trafigura just so happen to be the first trading houses granted U.S. licenses to load and export Venezuelan crude under the new arrangement. Garcia wants to know whether that outcome was coincidence, choreography, or something in between.

Neither Vitol nor Trafigura has responded publicly, but the scrutiny lands at an awkward moment for everyone involved.

Venezuela is in the middle of what looks like a genuine policy pivot. The interim government is moving to overhaul its hydrocarbons law, loosening operational control, allowing more flexible deal structures, and opening the door wider to foreign capital. On paper, it’s the most pragmatic shift Caracas has attempted in decades. Less ideology, more barrels.

But reforms mean little if the commercial upside is perceived to be pre-allocated. That’s where Washington’s optics problem comes in. When the U.S. captures a foreign leader, takes over oil sales, and then hands the export licenses to two of the world’s largest commodity traders, lawmakers are inevitably going to ask who came up with the guest list.

For U.S. refiners starved for heavy crude, Venezuelan barrels are suddenly back in play. For traders, it’s a rare chance to operate at scale in a market that’s been out of reach for years. And for Democrats heading into a tight midterm cycle, it’s fertile ground for oversight theater.

The United States has sold the first cargo of Venezuelan cargo it received from the country after the ousting of President Nicolas Maduro. The sale fetched $500 million, an unnamed Washington official told media.

CNN quoted the source as saying there would be more sales in the coming days. Earlier this month, President Donald Trump said Venezuela would “turn over” between 30 and 50 million barrels of its crude to the U.S.

Reuters quoted the Washington official as saying the proceeds of the sale were out into bank accounts under the control of the U.S. federal government. Another source said at least one of these accounts was in Qatar, which is considered a neutral location “where funds can move with U.S. approval and without risk of seizure,” according to Reuters.

Crude oil exports could eventually approach the roughly 500,000 barrels per day Venezuela shipped to the U.S. before the latter showered it with sanctions, but unnamed sources who spoke to Reuters warned that the first shipments would come from oil in storage, accumulated to date. That could take three to four months and will also involve clearing up and resolving bottlenecks at the Jose terminal, where storage capacity is limited.

Earlier this week, Enverus predicted that Venezuela’s oil production could expand to 1.5 million barrels daily by 2035, which would represent a 50% increase on current production rates. Yet Venezuela’s oil output could swell twice as much under Enverus’s best-case scenario, to hit 3 million barrels daily in 2035. That, however, would depend on global demand and supply balances.

Ice-Breaking Tanker Keeps Sanctioned Russian LNG Flowing to China

Russia is keeping its sanctioned LNG trade with China alive during the winter thanks to an ice-class vessel capable of ploughing through the thick Arctic ice.

The sanctioned Christophe De Margerie ice-class LNG tanker is set to export its third cargo since December 20 from the Arctic LNG 2 project in Russia, which is under sanctions by the United States, the EU, and the UK, vessel-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg showed on Monday.

The Christophe De Margerie is the only ice-breaker tanker of the Russian shadow fleet that ship-tracking services have identified so far as operating on the route between Russia’s Arctic LNG 2 project led by Novatek and the Chinese LNG import terminal of Beihai. The Chinese port has specialized in recent months in accepting all the sanctioned Russian LNG cargoes, both from the Arctic LNG 2 plant and from the Portovaya LNG small-scale export plant on the Baltic Sea, Gazprom’s only LNG export facility.

Arctic LNG flows to China have dwindled in recent weeks due to severe winter weather and the need for ice-breakers. With only one ice-class tanker capable of traveling through the Arctic ice all year round, Russia has boosted shipments from the Portovaya LNG on the Baltic Sea. Portovaya and its Russia-based operator, Gazprom SPG Portovaya Limited Liability Company, were sanctioned by the United States in January 2025 in one of the last actions of the Biden Administration in a barrage of sanctions to “degrade Russia’s energy sector.