Based in Singapore, Vandana Hari is an energy markets expert and thought leader with three decades of experience. She founded Vanda Insights in 2017 to provide global oil markets macro-analysis. Vandana previously held senior editorial and leadership roles during her 20 years at S&P Global, including Asia Editorial Director at S&P Global Commodity Insights (formerly Platts). She also served as a research scholar at S&P Global Institute.
In her exclusive monthly column, Vandana Hari, Founder and CEO of Vanda Insights, unpacks the record 610,000 b/d gap between OPEC and IEA’s 2025 oil demand growth forecasts, with OPEC projecting stronger consumption and tighter balances, while the IEA anticipates weaker emerging market demand, higher non-OPEC supply, and prolonged oversupply, leaving market participants without a clear consensus.
Rather than refining and reinforcing the existing sanctions regime, the European Union's latest sanctions package on Russia has opted to layer on complexity without coherence. The new measures appear untethered from the practicalities of enforcement or the realities of global energy trade, writes Vandana Hari in her latest column.
The outbreak of aerial warfare between Israel and Iran since June 13 and the resulting surge in crude’s risk premium is a stark reminder that no matter how carefully and dynamically market stakeholders calibrate global oil supply and demand fundamentals, geopolitical flashpoints can erupt without warning to upend all assumptions and strategies, writes Vandana Hari in her exclusive column for Energy Connects
Much ink has been spilled in dissecting the OPEC/non-OPEC alliance’s unexpected decision to accelerate the phaseout of its production cuts through May and June, which heaped more pressure on crude prices already reeling from a worsening global economic outlook. But a lot of the analysis misses the mark as it assumes one-dimensional objectives of the group and retrofits the prognosis to a pre-ordained narrative of imminent collapse, writes Vandana Hari
The OPEC/non-OPEC alliance made the right decision on March 3 to proceed with a gradual tapering of the 2.2 million b/d of collective production cuts by eight members from April, after having postponed the tapering thrice last year. Though the move may have added to the downward pressure on crude, the main reason for Brent futures crashing through $70/barrel, a floor the alliance would likely want to defend, was the tariff wars unleashed by US President Donald Trump against Canada, Mexico and China.
International Women’s Day always prompts contemplation, debates and discussions around how well workplaces around the world are empowering women and ensuring better gender balance through the corporate hierarchy. The energy sector, where I have had a career spanning nearly three decades, is commonly cited for a relatively low representation of women in the workforce, and an even smaller footprint at the top.
The global oil market is at a historic inflection point on demand and there are no straight contenders for the driving seat being vacated by China, writes Vandana Hari in her latest column for Energy Connects. The two major consumption centres of US and OECD Europe are past their historical peaks and likely to see a plateau or slip into a gradual decline. Overall global oil consumption is likely to continue growing into next decade, but the momentum will be scattered across mid-sized and smaller emerging economies in Asia, Middle East, Africa and Latin America, making the trajectory less consistent and probably more unpredictable than the one hitherto shaped by China.
In her exclusive column, Vandana Hari, Founder of Vandana Insights, highlights how crude prices faced short-term challenges despite OPEC+ deferring production cuts, with markets cautiously navigating global demand fluctuations and awaiting the Fed's strategic response to support economic stability.
Crude’s month-long rally, which propped up Brent futures by almost US $10/barrel to a nine-week high settlement of $87.43/barrel on July 4, split the market between bulls predicting $90 and sceptics saying seemed like a stretch.
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