Abu Dhabi suspended operations at its largest natural gas processing facility, after a fire broke out due to debris from a projectile interception. It is the second time operations have been halted at the Habshan facility since the war broke out. No injuries were reported. 

Hours earlier, a drone attack caused a fire at Kuwait’s Mina Al Ahmadi oil refinery, with a capacity of 346,000 barrels a day. Kuwaiti media said there were no immediate reports of casualties and teams were working to put out the blaze. Authorities also said a power and water desalination plant was attacked early on Friday, damaging some components. 

Saudi Arabia said it had intercepted several drones in the early morning.

On Thursday, Trump posted a video of a destroyed bridge and said there would be “much more to follow” if Iran didn’t agree to a deal to end the conflict, now almost five weeks old and which has caused a global energy crisis.

Iran remained defiant, with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi saying strikes on civilian structures “will not compel Iranians to surrender.” The country has shown little sign of accepting Trump’s demands for peace and has laid out its own conditions — most of them unacceptable to the US and Israel.

CNN reported that about half of Iran’s missile launchers are still intact — despite more than 12,000 US and Israeli strikes on Iran since they began the war in late February — and that thousands of one-way attack drones remain in Iran’s arsenal. The assessment may include launchers that are currently inaccessible even if they are not destroyed, CNN said, citing three sources familiar with the matter.

Trump signaled this week he may be willing to pull US forces out of the conflict in two to three weeks, even if the vital Strait of Hormuz is still effectively shut. US allies in Europe, the Middle East and Asia are stepping up efforts to ensure the waterway — through which one fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas supplies normally flow — is reopened soon.

More than 40 of them met virtually on Thursday to discuss plans, in a signal to Trump of their concern about the crisis triggered by the closure, with prices of energy and other commodities soaring in the past month.

The group was clear the US needed to include a solution for Hormuz in any ceasefire talks with Iran, people familiar with the discussions said. Still, the meeting showed the coalition of countries deem it necessary to begin preparations for having to reopen the strait without the US. Nations such as France and the UK have said military options are unlikely to work and that a ceasefire is needed.

The strait remains all but shut. Iran appeared to tighten its grip on Thursday when its media reported that the government is drafting protocol with Oman to monitor shipping traffic. That would require shippers to pay tolls to Iran, according to the country’s deputy foreign minister. Oman, which sits on the other side of the strait from Iran, is yet to comment on the reports.

The passage is officially in international waters and any attempt by Iran to assert control over traffic will be strongly opposed by Western powers and Gulf Arab states.

A trickle of ships is managing to pass through. A container ship signaling French ownership has recently exited the Strait of Hormuz, in what appears to be the first known transit by a vessel linked to Western Europe since the war began, Bloomberg reported.

The United Nations Security Council will likely vote on Friday on a resolution that would support a range of measures to reopen Hormuz.

Bahrain, supported by Jordan and Arab Gulf states such as the United Arab Emirates, is proposing the resolution, according to the UAE. It would provide “a clear legal basis for all states to mobilize and support safe passage,” the UAE said in a post on X.

In the oil market, WTI crude — the main benchmark for the US — settled above $110 a barrel for the first time since 2022 on Thursday. Fuel continued to edge higher worldwide, with diesel prices in Europe rising above $200 a barrel.

Oil markets are closed for Easter holidays on Friday.

Trump has oscillated between casting diplomatic efforts as productive, and threatening further destruction — including on civilian and energy infrastructure. Earlier this week, he threatened to target Iran’s energy facilities and water desalination plants if the strait stays shut — a move that could constitute a war crime under the Geneva Conventions.

He previously said Iran has until April 6 to reopen Hormuz or have its power plants destroyed. It’s unclear if that deadline is still in place.

The president is under increasing pressure from Americans to ease the energy shock, which has seen gasoline pump prices in the country surge to more than $4 a gallon on average. That’s the highest level in almost four years.

Trump has insisted prices will drop quickly once the war is over. He says the conflict was necessary to prevent Iran getting a nuclear bomb — something Tehran has always denied it wants — and to destroy its stockpile of missiles.

On Thursday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth asked Army Chief of Staff General Randy George to step down immediately. The Pentagon didn’t give a reason.

A prolonged conflict carries political risks for Trump and his Republican Party as the November midterm elections approach. Polls show a significant numbers of Americans disapprove of military operations against Iran and a rising number are concerned about the economic impact of the war.

More than 5,000 people have been killed in the conflict so far, almost three-quarters of them in Iran, according to government organizations and the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency. Just over 1,300 people have been killed in Lebanon, where Israel is fighting a parallel war against Iran-allied Hezbollah.

(Adds details on Abu Dhabi’s gas facilities.)

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

The company is exploring possible locations including Texas, Virginia and the northeastern US, the spokesperson said on Friday, confirming an earlier report by the Nikkei newspaper. No final decision has been made, the spokesperson added.

Artificial intelligence and the data centers behind it are driving a surge in US power demand, with tech firms turning increasingly to gas-powered facilities as a stable source of electricity. Osaka Gas President Masataka Fujiwara said in an interview in November that the company is targeting more investment in such plants in the US.

The US and Japan are also planning to build a $33 billion gas-fired power plant in Ohio as part of a trade deal between the two nations. At least 13 Japanese firms, including SoftBank Group Corp., are tied to that project.

The latest initiative by Osaka Gas is separate from the trade deal, the spokesperson said.

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

Tokyo Gas Co., which supplies gas and electricity to the nation’s capital, suspended acceptance of new clients for industrial power use from March 6, a company spokesperson said. With the ongoing conflict affecting procurement costs, the company has yet to decide when it will resume taking on new customers, the spokesperson said.

Eneos Power Corp., the power-retail unit of oil refiner Eneos Holdings Inc., has also temporarily stopped taking requests from new clients for industrial use, according to its website. A company spokesperson declined to comment further.

The temporary restrictions apply only to industrial electricity users. Both companies are continuing to take on new clients for comparatively low-voltage household use.

The US-Israeli war with Iran has resulted in the near-closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the strategic waterway that’s normally a transit point for a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas. This, along with the destruction of key energy infrastructure in the region, has affected the Japanese power market, which relies heavily on fossil-fuel imports to generate electricity.

Japan’s power retailers have suspended acceptance of new clients before, for example when the Russian invasion of Ukraine sent fuel prices skyrocketing. Such measures can threaten efforts by factories and other large power consumers from securing enough electricity.

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

Jera and Commonwealth entered the long-term agreement last year, which would’ve seen the proposed Louisiana-based export project supply 1 million tons of LNG annually for 20 years. The notification of the deal’s termination was dated April 1 and filed on behalf of Commonwealth Energy. The agreement was terminated effective March 3, the letter said, without giving a reason.

Spokespeople for Commonwealth LNG and Jera did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The planned Commonwealth LNG project is under development by private equity-backed Kimmeridge Energy Management LLC, whose managing partner Ben Dell said last week that a final investment decision is expected in April. The project has other long-term offtake agreements with purchasers including Glencore Plc and Malaysia’s Petronas.

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

Dan Jørgensen, European Commissioner for Energy and Housing, says the bloc is assessing “all possibilities” to tackle long-term effects of the Middle East conflict, including releasing more oil from strategic reserves.

“This will be a long crisis ... energy prices will be higher for a very long time,” Jørgensen told the Financial Times. The Dane also warned that for some more “critical” products, the EU could “expect it to be even worse in the weeks to come”.

Preparing for tough times

His message comes amid energy market disruption caused by the near-closure of the Strait of Hormuz and strikes on Gulf infrastructure. Prices have soared alongside fears of long-term supply shortages, potentially higher inflation, and slower economic growth.

While Jørgensen explained the EU was “not in a security of supply crisis, yet”, Brussels was devising plans to tackle “structural, long-lasting effects” of the war.

Jørgensen continued. “It certainly is our analysis this will be a prolonged situation, and countries need to be sure that they ... have what they need.”

Governments have been creating strategies to support consumers. The commissioner said the EU was “preparing for the worst scenarios”, including rationing critical products such as jet fuel or diesel, although it was “not there yet”.

“Better to be prepared than to be sorry,” he said, also reiterating there would be no change to EU legislation to end Russian LNG imports this year.

The politician said relying instead on the US and other partners to provide additional supplies was acceptable, as they operate in “the free market”.

Potential relief levers 

Jørgensen also spoke about loosening jet fuel regulations to permit more US imports and allowing more ethanol blending for automotive fuel.

He again said the EU was “not there yet” but was examining all possibilities.

“It’s clear the more serious the situation gets, the more, of course, we will also have to look into legislative tools,” he said.

Jørgensen would also “not exclude” another release of strategic energy reserves “if the situation becomes more dire”, without revealing the bloc’s “exact analysis” on when that might be required.

EU countries actioned the largest release of strategic oil reserves in history last month, in a bid to tame soaring prices.

Jørgensen added: “We need to keep our possibilities open, and if this is indeed, as I project, a long-lasting crisis, we need those tools also at a later stage. It needs to be done at the exact right time, and it needs to be proportionate.”

Construction of the 248-megawatt battery — which will have 496 megawatt-hours of capacity — is scheduled to begin this summer, with operation expected in 2028, Neoen, controlled by Brookfield Asset Management, said in a statement. Japan’s Nidec will assemble the battery packs in France.

Demand for battery storage is growing in France, and other parts of Europe, as power gluts become increasingly frequent due more solar and wind generation that can exceed demand during parts of the day. That’s leading to curbs in French nuclear and renewable output, making grid balancing more challenging, and causing big swings in prices — including to below zero.

The new battery will provide frequency and voltage regulation services to the French grid and help relieve congestion of the network in the Paris region, according to the statement 

Installed battery storage in France rose 35% last year 1.61 gigawatts, according to grid operator RTE data.

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

Brent climbed above $107 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate was near $105 following Trump’s rare prime-time address to the nation, where he cast the war as a success. The president said the US would hit Iran “extremely hard” over the next two to three weeks, and that Hormuz would open “naturally” after the conflict ends, without offering details or a clear timeline. 

“Nothing in Trump’s speech alters the underlying market reality: the strait has effectively been closed for a month, and flows remain materially constrained with at least several weeks of disruption still likely, if not more,” said Robert Rennie, head of commodity research at Westpac Banking Corp. Brent is expected to trade between $95 and $110 a barrel in the near term, he added.

Oil fell in recent days, while wider markets rallied, after Trump signaled a possible resolution to the Middle East conflict within weeks, but his speech from the White House injected further uncertainty about an end to war. The US president again threatened attacks on Iranian oil facilities.

The conflict has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, choking off supplies of crude, gas and products such as diesel to global markets, driving up energy prices and raising fears of an inflation crisis. Oil posted big monthly gains in March and Brent is still more than 40% higher than before the war.

The standoff over Hormuz is the most pressing issue for energy markets. On Monday, Trump said the US will blow up Iranian infrastructure including power plants if the strait doesn’t re-open, but on Tuesday, he called on other nations to wrest control of the waterway. The United Arab Emirates is among Gulf nations calling on the United Nations to authorize force to re-open it.

Iran and Oman will decide the future of the strait, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Wednesday, state-run Press TV reported. Hormuz won’t be opened based on the “absurd displays” of the US president, state-run IRIB added, citing a statement by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Trump said in his address from the White House late Wednesday that the war is “very close” to completion, but added military operations will soon escalate in Iran. He stated that “over the next two to three weeks, we’re going to bring them back to the stone ages where they belong.” The president said countries that get oil via Hormuz should take the lead in protecting shipments.

“The president’s characteristic ambiguity leaves multiple military options open in the near term, even as it sketches a relatively short timeline for US involvement,” said Claudio Galimberti, Houston-based chief economist at Rystad Energy. “Until there is greater clarity on the path to de-escalation, markets are likely to remain highly volatile.”

Even if the conflict was to end within a few weeks, it would still take time for normal flows to resume through Hormuz, while some energy infrastructure has been damaged and is facing lengthy repairs. The International Energy Agency Executive Director Fatih Birol warned that energy rationing may be coming soon to some countries as the oil supply shock deepens this month. 

Trump has vacillated throughout the conflict — which is nearing its sixth week — between threatening a military escalation and saying a deal is imminent. He has dispatched Vice President JD Vance to deliver an ultimatum to Iran to make a deal or face attacks on key infrastructure.

Iran’s military is “prepared for any scenario,” the Iranian Students’ News Agency reported, citing Foreign Ministry Spokesman Esmail Baghaei. He added that US demands are “maximalist and illogical.”

Investors are piling into options contracts that would allow them to profit from nearly any outcome, whether it’s a quick resolution dragging crude lower, or a further spike. There have been a smattering of lottery ticket-type bets that the global oil benchmark could rally to $450 a barrel.

“This spike is a physiological reset for a complacent market,” said Stefano Grasso, senior portfolio manager for Enhanced Value Fund at 8VantEdge Pte. He added that the fund has “taken the rare step of buying protection and adding energy length. The risk-reward is now too compelling to ignore.”

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

By 2035, the world’s third-largest polluting nation aims to increase the share of electricity generation from cleaner sources to 60%, and plans to cut emissions intensity — the amount per unit of economic output — by 47% from a baseline year of 2005.

“That means very significant investment opportunities,” said Jayant Sinha, president of Eversource Capital, a private equity firm with more than $700 million in assets that invests in infrastructure. “Billions and billions of dollars have to flow into grid upgradation, battery storage, and so on.”

Energy transition investment in India jumped about 15% in 2025 to a record $67.9 billion, according to data compiled by BloombergNEF tracking sectors including electrified transport, clean industry and renewables. To hit net zero by 2070, India may need to deploy as much as $21 trillion on decarbonization, according to a draft document developed last year by Niti Aayog, the government’s top think tank.

Opportunities associated with India’s 2035 emissions goals also include electric vehicles and charging networks, Sinha said in an interview. Eversource has invested in companies focus on deploying smart meters and electric bus management systems in India.

India’s latest climate plan, required under terms of the Paris Agreement, has been criticized by advocates of faster action as lacking in ambition. The strategy didn’t set a goal for reductions in absolute greenhouse gas emissions, while a clean energy target is regarded as offering only an incremental advance.

Any shift by Prime Minister Narendra Modi‘s government toward more aggressive plans would need far greater investment, Sinha said. “Not just hundreds of billions of dollars, but trillions of dollars are going to be required,” he said.

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

The ninth edition of the Egypt Energy Show brought policymakers, global energy leaders, investors, and innovators together in the capital to address pressing energy challenges at an increasingly pivotal and disruptive time for the industry.

Spotlight on Egypt’s energy influence

His Excellency Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, President of the Republic of Egypt, led the Opening Ceremony, attended by a distinguished international audience of global CEOs, policymakers, and investors.

Joined by His Excellency Nikos Christodoulides, the President of Cyprus and Egypt’s Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, H.E. Eng. Karim Badawi, it signalled the beginning of an important fixture in the world’s 2026 energy event calendar.

The Egypt Energy Show 2026 was held at the Egypt International Exhibition Center (EIEC) under the theme Transforming Energy Through Collaboration, Action, and Realism. With dialogue, collaboration, and action at its core, the exhibition and conference again reinforced the North African nation’s role as a strategic regional energy hub that supports secure, affordable, and resilient energy systems.

Setting the scene for partnerships

This edition also witnessed a series of significant agreements and partnership announcements. These included an Egypt-Cyprus framework to enhance natural gas cooperation and joint offshore exploration, and a Chevron Host Government Agreement to advance the Aphrodite gas field and a 280km subsea pipeline to Egypt.

Partnerships between GANOPE, bp, and SLB for Red Sea hydrocarbon exploration and advanced seismic surveys were confirmed, as was an EPROM-Monarch-GTS agreement to assess and rehabilitate the Nordec mineral oil recycling plant. The event also saw an EGPC, Eni and Health Authority MoU to upgrade New Heliopolis Hospital and expand healthcare capacity.

Agenda for energy progress

The Egypt Energy Show 2026 Strategic Conference programme set a clear direction, which highlighted the importance of regional cooperation, pragmatic policymaking, and cross-border partnerships in navigating today’s complex energy landscape.

Prime Minister Dr Mostafa Madbouly also convened a high-level roundtable with global energy leaders and investors, which reinforced Egypt’s commitment to international collaboration and long-term, sustainable investment.

As well as at least 50,000 visitors, the presence of more than 350 influential speakers, and 500-plus exhibiting companies across 13 country pavilions on the show floor, underlined the show’s scale and significance. Emerging technologies and solutions were also placed in the spotlight at the Innovation and AI Hub, where the winners in both the Start-Up Pitch and the Industry Pitch were also showcased in style.

The Technical Conference again delivered essential information to industry professionals, and the Young Professionals Programme 2026 placed a focus on emerging industry talent to inspire the next wave of energy innovators, engineers, and sustainability advocates.

Meanwhile, the Energy Awards recognised excellence across the industry, covering categories such as Health and Safety, Young Energy Professionals, Process Safety Excellence, Digital Transformation and AI, and Scaling Renewable Projects.

The date for the 10th anniversary edition of The Egypt Energy Show has been confirmed as 29-31 March 2027. Visitor registration is now open.

The partnership comes as electricity demand accelerates across the region and brings together capital and expertise to deliver renewable energy at the scale and speed needed.

 Platform to capture Asia’s energy growth

Each company will contribute assets of comparable value, totalling 3GW of operational capacity and 6GW under advanced development.

The JV, to be headquartered in Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), will act as both companies’ sole vehicle for developing, building, owning and operating onshore solar, wind and battery storage projects in Azerbaijan, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, and Uzbekistan.

The JV brings together a global clean energy leader and a global integrated multi‑energy company and positions the partners to capture Asia’s growing electricity demand.

It will have a portfolio capacity of 3GW of operational assets and 6GW of assets in advanced development that are expected to be operational by 2030.

Expertise and scale to meet demand

His Excellency Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and Chairman of Masdar, welcomed the transaction.

“The UAE has established itself as a global energy leader by delivering at scale, investing with conviction, and building partnerships that endure. Masdar epitomises that approach,” he said.

“We are proud to have pioneered renewable energy deployment in Central Asia and the Caucuses, and we have an expanding portfolio in some of the most attractive growth markets in Asia-Pacific.”

H.E. Dr. Al Jaber continued: “Asia will be the main driver of global electricity demand growth this decade, and this collaboration with TotalEnergies will accelerate our progress across the continent, unlocking new opportunities to deliver the competitive, reliable energy solutions that our partners and customers need.”

Strength from partnership

Patrick Pouyanné, Chairman and CEO of TotalEnergies, was also delighted with an agreement with Masdar which he said “brings together two major renewable players to build a renewable champion in Asia”.

He commented: “It will allow us to combine the strengths of our two companies to secure significant positions in these markets and create more value than if we were acting alone.

“This agreement is fully in line with the renewable energy strategy of our Integrated Power business. We are also pleased to further deepen, in this area, the long-standing relationship between the United Arab Emirates and TotalEnergies.”

Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi, CEO of Masdar (Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company PJSC), said the JV reinforces Abu Dhabi’s status as a “global centre for energy leadership”, and combines the expertise of Masdar and TotalEnergies to drive renewable energy deployment across Asia.

“For Masdar, this JV strengthens and diversifies our portfolio, unlocking new opportunities in attractive, high-growth markets, while bringing in a like-minded partner to accelerate growth and deliver additional value in our existing markets,” he added.

The JV will be staffed by about 200 employees from both TotalEnergies and Masdar and the management team will be announced at a future date.

The closing of the agreement is subject to regulatory approvals and conditions.

Tehran’s stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz has choked off Persian Gulf crude flows, boosting the price of Russia’s flagship Urals grade. But the waterway is also an important conduit for shipments of aluminum, liquefied natural gas and some fertilizers. As supplies have been squeezed, prices have surged — aluminum by 12% and urea by almost three-quarters since the start of the conflict.

There are also signs that some Russian commodities are losing the pariah status that’s weighed on them since the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine four years ago. Washington has eased sanctions on Moscow’s barrels at sea, but western customers are also starting to show interest in the Russian metals they long shunned. And the nation may also benefit as competition intensifies between Asian and European LNG buyers.

“Without the war in Iran, the situation in Russian economy would be much worse than it is now,” said Alexander Gabuev, director of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center said by email. 

A week before the US and Israel struck Iran, Russia had been considering downgrading its growth forecast as tougher sanctions over Ukraine hit oil revenues. Government officials were even considering slashing the oil price used for the country’s key budget rule to as low as $45 to $50 a barrel.

The war in the Persian Gulf has driven a dramatic turnaround. On Friday, Russia’s flagship Urals crude grade averaged $93.40 a barrel in the country’s western ports, according to data from Argus Media.

Russian oil exports could get a $40 billion boost if the price of crude remains elevated to the end of this year, according to analysis by several European governments and shared with Bloomberg News by officials on condition of anonymity. Should the US-Israeli war end quickly, with Hormuz reopening and oil prices returning to pre-war levels within three months, the boost would be limited to under $10 billion.

“The windfall for the Russian economy has been real,” said Bota Iliyas, a geopolitical and risk analyst at London-based risk assessment firm Schillings.

While oil remains an important source of revenue for the Kremlin’s coffers, other commodities are also benefiting from the Middle East conflict. 

Benchmark prices for aluminum are heading toward a four-year high after Iranian drones and missiles hit two major plants in Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. That’s improved the outlook for Russian metal, which has been largely shunned by Western buyers since 2022. 

United Co. Rusal International PJSC is receiving inquiries from the US and Europe about spare capacity, according to people familiar with the matter. In recent years, the Russian company that accounts for more than 5% of global output has been forced to redirect about half of its sales to China due to western restrictions.

Should the US or Europe ease trade restrictions on Russian metals, Rusal could reroute some volumes from China and boost alloy sales, the people said. 

Rusal’s press service declined to comment.

The shutdown of Hormuz has also choked off vital Persian Gulf flows of fertilizer and the gas needed to produce them. No. 2 producer Russia, which accounts for a fifth of the trade in crop nutrients, is poised to step into the breach.

“Russian supply has become increasingly important to the global nitrogen and phosphate markets,” said Taylor Eastman, a fertilizer trader at Andersons Inc.

For the moment, Russia is prioritizing domestic supply, with an export quota of 18.7 million tons on nitrogen and some complex fertilizers running through May and shipments of ammonium nitrate banned through April 21. Still, the nation can still ship some types of fertilizers within those limits or not covered by the quota.

Despite the upbeat outlook for energy and commodities, Russia’s ability to fully exploit the Iran war is being undermined by Ukrainian strikes on its oil refineries, infrastructure and fertilizer plants.

Oil export hubs on the Baltic Sea have come under repeated attacks over the past week, with loadings at Ust-Luga halted since March 25. Dorogobuzh PJSC, a major nitrogen nutrient plant, will remain idle until May after a Ukrainian drone strike in February.

But for other commodities, the situation looks brighter. 

Wheat export prospects for this season and the next are improving as supply risks tied to the Middle East conflict bolster demand, SovEcon said last week. Russian farmers also benefit from price caps on domestic fertilizer supplies, while higher costs may weigh on crop output in Europe and Ukraine.

Russian gas is another likely beneficiary, after Iranian strikes shut the world’s largest liquefied natural gas plant in Qatar and damaged about 17% of its capacity. As competition intensifies between Asian and European LNG buyers, Russian producers are set to exploit higher global prices, even as the European Union starts introducing restrictions on the country’s super-chilled fuel.

While US President Donald Trump has said he foresaw ending the war on Iran within two to three weeks, there’s unlikely to be a clean end to the conflict given Tehran’s control of the Strait of Hormuz. Either way, the market fallout is likely to reverberate for much longer, benefiting Iran’s key ally, Moscow.

“The longer the conflict lasts, the greater the potential upside for Russia,” said Vita Spivak, a consultant at Gatehouse. “Higher-for-longer commodity prices and sustained demand through extended sanctions waivers could help offset some of these structural losses” from Ukrainian attacks, she said.

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

Energy prices are at the top of the bloc’s political agenda as concerns over its declining competitiveness compared to China and the US have been exacerbated by tensions in the Middle East. The European Commission offered to make supply controls in the EU Emissions Trading System more flexible and floated concessions on free carbon permits for heavy industry.

In a draft regulation unveiled on Wednesday, the Commission proposed scrapping the invalidation of certain permits in its Market Stability Reserve — a mechanism that controls supply in the carbon market — while leaving volume thresholds and the absorption rate intact.  The proposal needs approval from member states and the European Parliament to enter into force.

The measure effectively means the EU aims to limit carbon price volatility by boosting the number of permits it can keep in the reserve for potential future releases in case of price swings. This is a less aggressive move than some traders had priced in following calls by politicians to significantly weaken or even suspend the EU ETS.

The MSR became a key feature of the ETS in 2019, when it began absorbing surplus permits from the market once a certain threshold of allowances in circulation was reached. Current legislation invalidates any allowances held in the reserve above a threshold of 400 million on Jan. 1 each year.

The design of the reserve will be assessed during a broader review of EU emissions trading law planned for July, according to a senior official who asked not to be identified. Revising more complex EU legislation can take up to two years.

In another move to address member states’ concerns about rising energy prices and the role of carbon costs, the Commission plans to offer some flexibility to energy-intensive industries on free emissions permits. While most allowances are sold at government auctions, certain companies receive a share of permits for free to prevent relocation to regions with laxer climate policies.

Launched in 2005, the EU ETS imposes gradually shrinking emissions caps on more than 10,000 facilities in sectors from steel to cement to chemicals. Carbon costs account for about 11% of electricity bills across the bloc on average, with heavy industry criticizing them as too much of a burden.

At the last EU summit in March, heads of government called on the Commission to take steps to reduce energy costs that were already stubbornly high before the Iran war disrupted oil and gas shipments and further boosted prices. Europe’s plans to revive its manufacturing sector and compete globally largely depend on whether it can lower energy bills for industry.

Shortly after the Easter break ending on April 6, the EU will unveil draft updated carbon-efficiency benchmarks that determine how many free allowances each industry receives, according to the official. The benchmarks will cover the period from 2026 to 2030 and, under EU law, must be tightened to reflect technological developments and improved performance.

Energy-intensive industries have called for freezing the benchmarks, fearing that tightening will place too much of a burden on manufacturers and lead to more factory closures. While the Commission has ruled out freezing them, it is examining what flexibility may be available to provide more generous allocations of free permits than initially anticipated, without compromising the integrity of the ETS, the official said.

The implementing act will first be subject to four weeks of public feedback, followed by a vote by representatives of EU member states in the bloc’s climate change committee, which the Commission expects to take place toward the end of April or in early May.

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

BP’s first outsider CEO faces a list of challenges, which cost her predecessor his job and had raised crucial questions about the future of the more than century-old firm. Following a botched 2020 pivot toward renewables, the company has a mountain of debt, an organizational structure that many in the industry believe is too sprawling, and a portfolio cluttered with low-return units.

While BP’s share performance has lagged only Exxon Mobil Corp. among its main peers over the past 12 months, its market value is less than a fifth of its rival, and the stock has underperformed competitors over the last five years. When reporting earnings in February, BP was the only one to scrap its share buyback, a cornerstone of the investment case for the largest oil companies.

Although the crude rally due to the Middle East conflict will give O’Neill some breathing space, shareholders expect changes. Three investors — including two top-20 shareholders — who asked not to be identified want a simpler company. Two of them want leadership roles reduced or combined. They also want the CEO to cut costs and focus on the strongest upstream assets, such as in the US and Brazil, while shedding legacy assets like North Sea fields, where BP is the last major still operating its own business.

O’Neill has already met with senior leadership to assess the company, and every part of the organization is under review, according to employees who asked not to be identified.

It won’t be easy. Chairman Albert Manifold wants BP “to become a simpler, leaner and more profitable company.” He has told shareholders the turnaround will take at least two years to bear fruit, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified as the information is private. 

“If Meg fails to repair BP’s trajectory, I think it’s a sign that BP is terminally doomed to basically no longer be a major,” said Saul Kavonic, head of energy research at MST Financial, referring to BP’s market value versus peers. He covered O’Neill at Australia’s Woodside Energy Group Ltd., where she spent three years as CEO. “If anyone can fix it, I think it’s her.”

O’Neill said she’s committed to “providing clear direction and consistency” so the company can move forward with confidence, according to an email to staff on Wednesday that was confirmed by BP. She also reiterated Manifold’s desire to make BP “simpler, stronger and more valuable.”

For now, oil companies are getting a big boost from crude’s rally as the Iran war causes what the International Energy Agency says is the biggest-ever oil supply disruption. BP calculates that every $1 gain in Brent adds roughly $340 million to its pretax profit.

In terms of supplies, BP is among the least exposed of the majors to Middle East disruptions, with limited volumes routed through the Strait of Hormuz compared with Shell Plc’s vast Qatar operations. BP’s trading arm — perhaps the company’s strongest asset — stands to benefit from the massive price moves.

Brent spiked near $120 a barrel last month. It fell back below $100 on Wednesday as President Donald Trump said he foresaw the US ending the war within two to three weeks, though prices are still up about 65% so far this year.

Still, investors and analysts say any windfall masks deep structural problems. 

The London-based company in February slashed a $750 million quarterly stock repurchases program that had already been reduced last year to shore up its balance sheet. Analysts at the time said the move to prioritize balance-sheet repair over investor payouts would help clear the decks for O’Neill.

BP has suffered from corporate disasters and lackluster returns from its renewables efforts. That led to activist investor Elliott Investment Management building a stake and campaigning to return the company to its core oil and gas focus, as well as the eventual departure late last year of Murray Auchincloss, who had replaced Bernard Looney as CEO just two years earlier.

Its proven reserves cover roughly seven years of production, among the shortest of any major. Its cost base is seen as uncompetitive and it hasn’t provided a clear investment case. When interim CEO Carol Howle was asked at the latest earnings why investors should choose BP over rivals, the response was widely seen as inadequate, according to some investors, employees and analysts.

The stock’s underperformance also made it the subject of takeover speculation, with Shell last year evaluating a potential acquisition. More than a dozen investors, employees and analysts who spoke on condition of anonymity described BP as now being at an inflection point.

While it’s not clear what O’Neill’s exact strategy will be, some investors and employees who spoke to Bloomberg would like changes to the leadership team. Several employees said morale at the company has suffered and that staff trust in leadership has weakened.

Previous restructuring under Looney that was meant to simplify BP made it more bloated, so creating a tighter upstream-downstream model may be one area of focus that ties in with Manifold’s push for a simpler company.

BP declined to comment.

The upstream pipeline offers long-term promise. The Bumerangue discovery off Brazil could hold billions of barrels of oil equivalent, and the company’s exploration record particularly over the last year differentiates it from peers struggling to replace reserves.

O’Neill’s overhaul of Woodside could offer insight into how she may revamp BP. There, she focused on expanding the portfolio, growing it from an Australia-focused producer to a global powerhouse in liquefied natural gas. Before that, she spent more than two decades at Exxon and was seen as a rising star.

MST’s Kavonic expects her to make difficult decisions on legacy businesses quickly.

“BP will either be fundamentally different or Meg won’t be there,” he said.

(Updates with CEO comments to staff in eighth paragraph)

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

2PointZero Group PJSC, part of a business empire overseen by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, said it is among investors in Boston-based Whoop’s new funding round that values the firm at $10.1 billion. Less than a day earlier, the Emirati firm agreed to acquire a 100% stake in Traverse Midstream Partners LLC for $2.25 billion.

The region is showcasing a continued appetite for dealmaking despite the ongoing war. Whoop’s Series G round also included other marquee names from the Middle East, including Qatar Investment Authority and Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Investment Co.

Earlier this month, Savvy Games Group — a unit of Saudi Arabia’s $1 trillion Public Investment Fund — agreed to buy Moonton from ByteDance Ltd., valuing the game maker at about $6 billion. Abu Dhabi Investment Authority has also been active this month, while the QIA and a Bahraini aluminum producer both announced large transactions in the first week of the war.

Just days ago, the UAE’s ambassador to the US said the Gulf nation’s $1.4 trillion investment and economic framework with America remained on track. The top official at Saudi Arabia’s wealth fund has also confirmed it remains committed to investments around the world despite growing concerns over the mounting economic costs of the war.

For 2PointZero, which was created from a restructuring of Abu Dhabi’s corporate landscape last year, the twin deals are among the firm’s most significant since it was created last year. The firm was formed after International Holding Co. PJSC, the emirate’s largest listed firm and chaired by Sheikh Tahnoon, combined Multiply Group PJSC, 2PointZero and Ghitha Holding PJSC.

The firm has about $33 billion of assets and is overseen by Sheikh Zayed bin Hamdan Al Nahyan as chairman, while Samia Bouazza is its chief executive officer. 

It’s among a constellation of sovereign and private investment firms in Abu Dhabi that together control more than $2 trillion and have each been prolific dealmakers. Many of them are overseen by Sheikh Tahnoon, one of Abu Dhabi’s two deputy rulers and a brother to the country’s president.

Traverse Midstream Partners is a portfolio company of The Energy & Minerals Group and owns minority stakes in US natural gas infrastructure assets, including the Rover Pipeline and Ohio River System. The assets help move gas from the Utica and Marcellus shale regions to demand centers in the Midwest, the Gulf Coast and eastern Canada.

Mideast Money newsletter

(Updates with details of Whoop investment throughout.)

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

The blades take up nearly 1 million square feet in a field off Interstate 20. Hundreds more occupy a second site nearby. Originally up to 200 feet long — nearly the wingspan of a Boeing 747 — the blades have been cut into thirds, exposing gaping openings. Locals complain they’re a haven for rattlesnakes, collect water that attracts mosquitoes and pose a threat to children living nearby. 

The town has repeatedly asked the company that left the blades there to remove them, with no success. 

“It’s really ugly,” says Samantha Morrow, the city attorney. She’s received quotes to remove the blades, but they range from $13 million to $54 million, beyond the city’s budget.

Thousands of visitors come to Sweetwater each year for its rattlesnake roundup, and the town also draws traffic tied to nearby wind energy projects. Miesha Adames, Sweetwater’s executive director of economic development, says the blades have damaged the town’s reputation. 

Texan officials have had enough. Attorney General Ken Paxton last month filed a civil lawsuit against Global Fiberglass Solutions, the recycling company that left the blades in Sweetwater.

Four people have been indicted for illegal dumping and theft of property. The Nolan County District Attorney is seeking significant jail time and says more charges are likely. 

“They chose,” District Attorney Ricky Thompson told reporters at a recent press conference held in front of the blades. “That’s not okay.” 

It isn’t just Texas that’s angry. Global Fiberglass is facing another lawsuit from the state of Iowa, as well as several claims for unpaid wages and fees to suppliers. 

This is a story about an entrepreneur who believed he could make millions from old wind-turbine blades but, by many accounts, got in over his head. The upshot: angry citizens, mounting debt and an array of legal troubles.

The entrepreneur, Don Lilly — chief executive officer of Global Fiberglass — said he hasn’t dumped anything and remains interested in recycling the blades. In an interview for this story late last year, he described a vicious circle of acquiring old blades but being unable to find buyers for recycled material, leading to a growing stockpile. 

In a statement emailed to Bloomberg News in March, Lilly said Global Fiberglass would not comment on allegations against it due to ongoing litigation. The company’s head of business development, Ronald Albrecht, and lawyers representing him did not respond to requests for comment. 

Officials haven’t announced the names of the people under indictment, but Lilly and Albrecht are among them, according to two people familiar with the matter, speaking on condition of anonymity. Lilly and lawyers for him and Albrecht didn’t respond to requests for comment about the indictments. 

While the case is extraordinary, it offers a window into the larger challenge of disposing of turbine blades, and other complex plastic-infused materials, after their useful life. Blade waste has been increasing as older turbines are replaced or refurbished, and the world could see some 43 million tons of it by 2050, according to one estimate.

Blades can be broken down for further use in cement kilns or to make new materials, but the methods are expensive and come with their own environmental impacts. There are few buyers for recycled content from blades. Some companies are turning old ones into bus shelters or pedestrian bridges, but this is a niche solution. 

Low-carbon wind power is a vital tool to keep global temperatures in check, and waste from wind projects makes up only a tiny fraction of what flows to landfills every year. The local environmental impacts of renewable energy are also far eclipsed by those of fossil fuel production. 

But the waste is bad public relations for an industry reliant on appearing clean and green. It’s also a ripe target for political opponents of wind farms, which President Donald Trump has decried as dangerous, inefficient and ugly. 

Texas generates more wind power than any other US state, and the industry supports tens of thousands of jobs there. But Paxton, a Republican running for the US Senate, announced the lawsuit against Global Fiberglass with a political jab at the sector: “Just because the radical left calls something a ‘green industry’ does not give any company a free pass,” he said. 

Back in 2009, Don Lilly and Ken Weyant founded Global Fiberglass Solutions in Bothell, Washington, after being introduced by a mutual friend. Lilly until that point had worked in software sales and knew nothing about recycling. Weyant — who died in 2015 — was an accountant who had developed an interest in hard-to-reuse materials. He wanted a partner who “thought outside the box,” according to Lilly.

The pair saw an opportunity in the mounting waste from composite materials, like those used in boats and airplane wings. A few years later, they widened their focus to include wind blades after Lilly read an article about a turbine-maker looking to dispose of its used ones.

The timing was opportune. In 2015, the US government extended the federal production tax credit for wind energy. That encouraged many wind-farm owners to “repower” — to replace existing turbines, or just their blades, with newer, larger components, which can produce more energy. It meant thousands of blades would soon be headed for landfills across the country.

Up to 90% of a wind turbine’s mass can be easily recycled, but not the blades. They contain layers of fiberglass or carbon fiber wrapped around a core of balsa wood or plastic foam. Liquid resin is drawn through the fibers and cured, hardening the structure. Separating these materials for recycling is complex and costly. Transportation adds to the expense, since moving the blades often requires specialist trucks and permits.

Global Fiberglass pitched turbine-makers including General Electric, explaining that it could chop up their blades on wind farms, take them away for recycling and issue certificates of decommissioning. Lilly touted his partnership with Karl Englund, a Washington State University researcher who’d go on to become Global Fiberglass’s chief technology officer. Englund had found a way to grind old blades down into filler materials he claimed could strengthen everything from furniture to concrete. 

In 2016, Global Fiberglass sent GE executives a presentation with photos of manhole covers, pallets and panels that it said it could make from old blades. The presentation offered GE the option to buy these at discounted prices as well as “joint PR activity on recycling efforts,” according to court filings. 

The following year, 2017, the company moved into a former aluminum recycling plant in Sweetwater.  Soon after, GE struck two deals for Global Fiberglass to remove and recycle nearly 5,000 old blades, at a per-blade price of more than $3,500. 

The company started to amass blades. But there was a problem: It hadn’t lined up customers for what it planned to recycle.

In late 2018, Lilly got a “scramble call” from GE, he said. It was hearing complaints that its blades were piling up. “They said, ‘We want you to take blades and start breaking them down,’” Lilly recalled. GE executives told Lilly they’d be coming by the facility for a visit.

Heath Ince, a former Global Fiberglass field manager, said Lilly instructed him and other employees to “look busy.” When the visitors arrived, Ince demonstrated how blades could be ground up and turned into pellets.

But it was clear that production wasn’t up and running. Only prototyping was. “When we showed them what we had, they got mad,” recalled Ince. 

With no ready buyers for recycled material, it didn’t make sense to break down the blades, Lilly said: “Grinding without knowing who the customer is and what they want is just waste.” 

According to Englund, filler just didn’t appeal to potential customers. “People want sexy. They want their recycling operation to have some whiz-bang,” he said in an interview. Plus, producing filler — even if there had been demand for it — used up only a small amount of the material from the blades. 

Englund had found a way to make panels that used more of the blades, but equipment was expensive and grinding caused major wear and tear on machinery.

Still, a Global Fiberglass press release issued in early 2019 described “commercial production” being underway in Sweetwater. 

Former employee Tatiana Golik said she was pressured by executives to describe Global Fiberglass as “fully operational” in a 2019 presentation to a turbine maker, and that she was instructed to write a newsletter for clients declaring that “manufacturing is on.” The newsletter, seen by Bloomberg, said Global Fiberglass was producing 300 to 500 pounds of pellets daily. 

“That was a complete lie,” Golik said in an interview. “We weren’t producing anything daily.” 

In an email to Bloomberg, Lilly said that statements made by former employees were “disputed.” He also said the status of the plant shifted over time, and during this period it “had not yet received all permits required to conduct full manufacturing operations.” 

After its 2018 visit to Sweetwater, GE didn’t sign more contracts with Global Fiberglass. But it had already given Global Fiberglass 5,000 blades to recycle, which the company had stashed across Iowa and Texas. And GE wasn’t Global Fiberglass’ only client. 

In 2022, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality issued an enforcement order requiring Global Fiberglass to obtain permits for existing blades and stop accepting new material until it did. It didn’t comply, the commission said, so it referred the matter to the attorney general. According to Paxton’s office, Global Fiberglass has since accepted numerous deliveries of turbine parts to its main Sweetwater site. 

Some blades were brought in by Dent Trucking, a Sweetwater firm that started hauling for Global Fiberglass in 2017. Owner Cliff Dent said he bought seven extra-long trailers, at a cost of $35,000 each, especially to transfer blades, but after a while he stopped getting paid. He said he is owed $590,000 and has had to use his retirement savings to keep Dent Trucking afloat.

“It’s been a wreck for our company,” Dent said. Lilly didn’t comment on Dent’s allegations.  

Global Fiberglass also piled up hundreds of GE’s blades at three sites in Iowa. It told GE it would be expanding into a plant in Newton, and in a press release described the plant as a “major development.” But Lilly, when interviewed for this story, said his team never got access to that facility after asbestos was discovered inside. 

$5.5 million. 

GE then sued Global Fiberglass in September 2023, accusing the company of “fraud and deception” and a “bait and switch scheme.” In response, Global Fiberglass argued that it had no obligation under its agreements with GE to recycle the blades and that its only continuing obligation was not to send these to a landfill, according to court filings.

In 2024, a judge ruled for GE — which by then had split into three companies, with its wind-energy operations becoming part of GE Vernova Inc.— ordering Global Fiberglass to pay about $15.5 million, plus interest and legal fees.

“We are pleased that the court ruled in our favor,” a GE Vernova spokesperson said in a statement to Bloomberg. “We will continue to work with other reputable suppliers and support industry partnerships designed to address the industry-wide issue of wind-turbine-blade recycling.” GE Vernova didn’t address specific questions about its dealings with Global Fiberglass. 

From there, Global Fiberglass’ troubles kept mounting. Iowa’s attorney general sued the company, Lilly and Albrecht in September 2024, saying they illegally disposed of solid waste by accumulating blades while making “no effort to recycle” them. Lilly and Albrecht sought to have the claims against them thrown out, arguing that Iowa courts lacked jurisdiction and that they should not be personally liable for the conduct alleged. A district court judge denied that request. The pair then asked the Iowa Supreme Court to overturn the ruling. That appeal is still pending. 

Golik, Ince and Englund said they believe that Lilly set out to recycle the blades but mismanaged the business. 

Golik left the company in 2022 after months of not being paid, she said, and is still owed $86,000. Ince said Lilly owes him over $14,000. He said he urged Lilly to fence off the blades to make sure children couldn’t play on them, but was ignored. 

“Towards the end, he was desperate for money and started trying to save himself, regardless of who else got hurt,” said Ince. 

Lilly didn’t comment on Ince or Golik’s specific allegations. In late 2025 he said that he was still involved in blade recycling through a new company he’d set up, which had recently signed contracts. He declined to name his clients. 

“This is not Global Fiberglass. It has nothing to do with Global Fiberglass,” he said. 

It remains unclear what will happen to the blades in Sweetwater. 

Most old wind-turbine blades end up in landfills. The main alternative in the US is to shred them and send them to cement kilns. But many see that as a stopgap. Cement kilns are a major source of hazardous air pollutants and carbon emissions, and blades arrive in irregular volumes while kilns need a consistent mineral mix. The process is more expensive than landfilling. Only a handful of US kilns accept blades, and the grinding equipment also wears out quickly.

“Silica will grind down every component you use,” said Bob Cappadona, president and CEO for hazardous waste at Veolia North America. Veolia began working with GE, after it stepped away from Global Fiberglass, to shred its blades so they could go to cement kilns. “The grinder we were using was nearly half a million dollars and we were going through them like candy.” 

Other companies have taken different approaches. Some are designing blades with materials that are easier to separate for recycling. Others like Vestas Wind Systems AS and Gjenkraft are trying to use heat or chemicals to break them down, although such processes can be energy-intensive and costly. An Iowa company called Renewablade is incorporating blades into non-structural concrete but says its process is limited to local manufacturing. 

Some older turbines and components are refurbished and sold secondhand in countries like Italy and Poland, where height restrictions can make newer, larger turbines harder to install. 

To spur further innovation, members of WindEurope — a trade group — agreed to a voluntary ban on landfilling blades that took effect in January. In Texas, a new law stipulates that the costs of component disposal and recycling be included in the financial assurances required under wind-power facility agreements.

Meanwhile, in Sweetwater, the blade dump remains a daily annoyance, with no timeline for when it might be cleared.

Dent, the trucking-firm owner, last hauled blades for Global Fiberglass in 2023 but still worries about children from the neighboring housing complex getting hurt by the blades.

“They’re like handmade forts to go play in. They’re stacked and they’re dangerous,” he said. “For us, this started out as a blessing but it’s turned into a nightmare.”

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

The Al-Salmi, a Kuwait-flagged very large crude carrier, was in the anchorage zone of Dubai’s port, just 31 nautical miles northwest of the emirate and in an area packed with ships waiting to exit the Gulf. The strike damaged its hull and started a fire on board.

“Emergency response and firefighting teams were immediately mobilized and are currently working to contain and control the situation,” state-run Kuwait Petroleum Corp. said in a statement, adding that the attack — which happened just after midnight local time — may have resulted in an “oil spill in the surrounding waters.” The Dubai Media Office said later in a post on X that the fire had been extinguished.

The incident is yet another sign that a deepening Middle East conflict shows little sign of nearing a resolution, with mooted peace plans still at odds with reality on the ground and inconsistent rhetoric from Washington. US President Donald Trump earlier issued threats against Iranian infrastructure, including power plants and oil facilities, and has sent more troops to the region as the war extends into a fifth week.

The tanker attack pushed oil prices higher, with West Texas Intermediate futures jumping almost 4% toward $107 a barrel, before paring gains.

Iran has near-total control of the Strait of Hormuz — the narrow waterway that’s the gateway to the Gulf — and has effectively closed it to all but a trickle of vessels, paralyzing shipments of energy and other goods. Tehran has targeted ships and energy infrastructure on several occasions, but attacks on vessels in and around the strait appeared to have eased in recent days.

The last reported incident was on March 21, when a bulk carrier reported a near miss.

The latest attack will revive shipowners’ concerns, even as Iran takes steps toward restoring some traffic through the strait on its own terms. Dubai’s anchorage area is a frequent stopping point as vessels wait to secure war-risk insurance cover and finalize details before exiting via the narrow corridor. 

As of Tuesday morning, there were more than 400 ships of all types in and around the anchorage where Al-Salmi was struck, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Electronic interference can potentially misrepresent ships’ true locations in the area.

Al-Salmi crossed the strait into the Gulf in late February, reaching Saudi Arabia’s Khafji port to pick up some barrels, ship-tracking data show. The tanker then sailed onward to Kuwait’s Mina Al Ahmadi for another cargo, before moving, fully laden, to the United Arab Emirates. It has been off Dubai since.

The ship’s signals through this time indicate that it wanted to make clear its associations as Iran stepped up attacks on vessels. It said it was sailing under the Kuwaiti flag as it entered the Gulf, adding that it was bound for China’s Qingdao. At times, it switched to saying it had Chinese cargo.

All 24 crew members were safe, the Dubai Media Office said in a separate post on X.

(Updates with detail in paragraphs seven to nine.)

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

The next-day delivery price jumped to 23.15 yen (14 cents) per kilowatt-hour on Tuesday, up 32% from a week ago and the highest level since January 2023.

Japan relies heavily on fossil-fuel imports for power generation, and the conflict between the US, Israel and Iran has supercharged prices of crude oil and natural gas as key trade routes are shut and energy facilities damaged. The war has also triggered gains in alternative fuels such as coal.

The spot price may also have been boosted by the weather forecast, which points to cloud or rain across much of the country on Wednesday, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. That could curb solar-power generation.

Eastern Japan’s solar output is forecast to peak at 10,537 megawatts at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, while in western Japan it is set to peak at 7,562 MW at 11 a.m., according to BloombergNEF data.

Less capacity could also put pressure on the spot price. Japanese power plants typically conduct regular maintenance during spring, when demand is low. The Tokyo area is set to see about 4 gigawatts less of gas-fired power generation between Tuesday and Wednesday, according to information on the Japan Electric Power Exchange website.

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

President Donald Trump earlier on Monday posted on social media that if Tehran doesn’t re-open the Strait of Hormuz, “we will conclude our lovely ‘stay’ in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating” electricity plants, oil facilities and “possibly” desalination infrastructure. 

Trump has regularly vacillated between saying a deal with Iran is imminent and warning he’s prepared to increase the military tempo. The threat to water facilities would constitute a war crime as defined by the Geneva Conventions. 

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the US is “conducting more intense, targeted strikes with devastating combat power with each passing day” and the US operations are proceeding “according to plan,” even as she echoed the president in saying talks are on track. The administration hasn’t identified which Iranian officials it’s dealing with, directly or indirectly. 

Despite the mystery surrounding peace talks, Leavitt said the Iranians were “increasingly eager” to negotiate and agreed to “some of the points” that the US has put forward to end the conflict. Iran has consistently said peace talks aren’t progressing and has signaled it can carry on fighting for much longer. 

“These folks are appearing more reasonable behind the scenes,” Leavitt added.

The back-and-forth on negotiations happened as Israel and Iran exchanged missile strikes. The conflict is threatening to cause severe economic damage around the world, with the closure of the critical Hormuz waterway choking supplies of energy, fertilizer and other critical commodities. 

The most active Brent crude contract for June settlement rose more than 2% to trade near $108 a barrel on Monday. Brent is on track for a record monthly increase and oil’s advance since the start of the year is now around 90%, stoking expectations of slower growth and faster inflation worldwide.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox News the US is “going to retake control” of Hormuz, ensuring safe navigation “through US escorts or a multinational escort.” The US announced such a plan in the early days of the war, though it hasn’t yet been executed.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi on Monday issued an appeal to Trump to end the conflict, saying only the US president is capable of doing so. He warned of the dangers of rising energy prices on the economies of developing nations and political stability. Egypt is, along with Pakistan and Turkey, trying to mediate between Iran and the US.

The US military said over the weekend that about 3,500 sailors and Marines have arrived in the Middle East on an amphibious assault ship. The Tripoli Amphibious Ready Group is also carrying fighter aircraft.

The Israel Defense Forces said it’s carrying out airstrikes on Iran a day after attacks resulted in power outages in Tehran and nearby areas. Iran said it’s striking Israel, which reported an attack on the Bazan oil refinery in Haifa, although not to production facilities. 

The United Arab Emirates issued multiple alerts overnight and Saudi Arabia and Kuwait reported interceptions of drones and missiles. 

Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday that an agreement to end fighting could come soon, claiming that Iran agreed to “most of” the 15 demands the US has issued, without offering specifics. 

Iran suggested that isn’t the case, having publicly rejected the proposal last week.

“The demands conveyed to us have been excessive and illogical,” Foreign Ministry Spokesman Esmail Baghaei said in a press conference on Monday, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency. 

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio declined to say who the US is engaged with on the Iran side, telling ABC it would put them in danger as “there’s some fractures going on there internally.” 

Iran has insisted on its own conditions to end hostilities, issuing a five-point plan that includes demands — such as the payment of war reparations — that Trump and Israel are unlikely to accept. Tehran also has called for an end to the war on all fronts, a likely reference to Israel’s parallel operation against Iran-allied Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Tehran-backed Houthi militants in Yemen entered the war over the weekend, launching missiles and drones at Israel. 

More than 4,750 people have been killed so far, roughly three-quarters of them in Iran. More than 1,100 people have died in Lebanon, where more than a million people have been displaced. Dozens of people have been killed in Israel and Arab Gulf states.

Three United Nations peacekeeper troops have been killed in Lebanon over the past 24 hours.

Iran’s weekend strikes on Middle Eastern aluminum plants are threatening to send a fragile market into crisis, raising the prospect of record prices for the metal.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Trump said he wants to “take the oil in Iran,” which would involve occupying the country’s main export hub of Kharg Island — also the location of an Iranian naval base. 

“Our men are waiting for American soldiers to enter on the ground,” Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said, according to Tasnim.

Trump is also considering a military operation to seize Iran’s near-bomb-grade uranium, three diplomatic officials briefed on the matter told Bloomberg News earlier this month. 

Pakistan said it was ready to facilitate peace talks between the US and Iran in the coming days after hosting a meeting of foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt. Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, who didn’t elaborate on the timeline or the likelihood of such talks taking place, called for creating the right conditions for structured discussions between the parties.

Trump has pushed for negotiations as US gas prices soar in a congressional election year. He twice delayed a deadline for Tehran to agree to reopen the Strait of Hormuz — through which about a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas typically flows.

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen this month said the bloc would address the carbon component in energy prices when it makes revisions to help contain power costs. At the time, carbon futures hit an almost one-year low on speculation of a push for hard measures to cut prices.

But in a short-term proposal to be put forward on Wednesday, the commission plans to scrap the invalidation of certain permits in its Market Stability Reserve — a mechanism that controls supply in the carbon market — while leaving the volume thresholds and the absorption rate intact, people familiar with the matter said. Carbon jumped as much as 3.2% after Bloomberg reported the plan.

The proposal effectively means the European Union aims to limit carbon price volatility by boosting the number of permits it can keep in the reserve for potential future releases in case of any price swings. That would be a less aggressive move than some traders had priced in following calls by politicians to significantly weaken, or even suspend, the Emissions Trading System.

“If the final proposal is just about the invalidation clause, this will indeed have a structurally bullish impact for EU allowances, as it basically takes away the fear premium attached to any more drastic short-term supply shocks,” said Marcus Ferdinand, chief analytics officer at consultant Veyt.

Member states are worried that high carbon costs will further burden firms that are being strained under energy prices that are higher than for rival industries in the US and China. Europe’s plans to revive its manufacturing sector and get it competing globally are largely reliant on whether officials can lower energy bills for industry. The Iran conflict has also sharpened focus on the issue.

Carbon prices have rebounded about 17% since touching a low on March 19, and reached the highest in more than two weeks on Monday.

Started in 2005, the EU ETS imposes gradually shrinking emissions caps on more than 10,000 facilities in sectors from steel to cement to chemicals. Carbon costs on average account for about 11% of electricity bills across the bloc, with heavy industry criticizing it for being too big a burden.

The MSR mechanism became a key feature of the ETS in 2019, when it started absorbing extra permits from the market if a certain threshold of allowances in circulation was met. The current legislation invalidates any allowances held in the reserve on Jan. 1 every year above the threshold of 400 million.

The change planned by the commission will not release any immediate volumes from the reserve into the market. The commission has a long-standing policy of not commenting on unpublished documents.

“The planned change confirms that the commission does not see the ETS as the main factor behind the rise in energy prices,” Citigroup Inc. analyst Francesco Martoccia said. “It’s also a signal that the broader reform coming up later this year is likely to be shallower than the market expects.”

Other Plans

The EU will also unveil on Wednesday a proposal on updated carbon efficiency benchmarks, according to the people familiar, who asked not to be identified commenting on draft documents. The benchmarks are indices that determine how many free permits certain companies can get to meet emissions quotas.

While the new benchmarks are legally bound to reflect technological developments and improvements, the commission will use flexibilities within its existing laws when determining the values for the 2026-30 period, the people said. Energy-intensive industries have called for freezing the benchmarks to avoid too stringent adjustments that would lead to factory closures.

Following the short-term adjustments, the commission is due to unveil by July a broader review of the ETS to adjust it to a new 2040 target of cutting greenhouse-gas emissions by 90% from 1990 levels. 

As part of a deal on the new climate goal struck by EU negotiators in December, the review of the ETS will need to slow the pace of annual emission reductions to avoid the cap dropping to zero in 2039 under the system’s current design. Governments also want to ensure that free allowances are phased out at a slower pace when the bloc gradually introduces its carbon border levy.

Some member states and European Parliament lawmakers have also called for a deeper revision of the MSR, inclusion of negative emissions in the carbon market and a bigger role of imported credits. 

The overhaul will also include the ETS Investment Booster — a financing tool for lower-income member states to help industrial decarbonization projects. It will be based on 400 million allowances and is expected to raise about €30 billion ($34 billion). Details of the timeline and design of the proposal remain scant, with some diplomats saying permits could come from various set-asides in the system, including a reserve for new entrants. 

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

So far in March, the first full month of war, barely six vessels per day on average have traversed the narrow waterway connecting the Persian Gulf to the world, in either direction. That compares with about 135 a day in normal times, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. 

Over that time, 80% of the small number of oil tankers exiting the strait have been Iranian — or belong to countries with which it is on cordial terms, the figures show. 

Electronic interference in the Hormuz area disrupts vessel-tracking systems and some ships disable their transponders, impacting the timeliness and precision of tracking data. Even so, there is every sign that Tehran’s ability to control the strait is increasing. Virtually all vessels that make the crossing now are doing so along Iran-approved routes — sailing close to its shores, and not to the Omani side of the strait — and often after talks to seek safe passage. Over the past few days, Malaysia and Thailand have reported bilateral deals to free tankers trapped in the gulf.

“Hormuz remains a closed gate for oil tankers,” said Anoop Singh, global head of shipping research at Oil Brokerage Ltd, adding the problem was not likely to see a quick fix without a ceasefire. “Even if there is one, it will not mean a rapid return of flows and shipping through Hormuz. Oil traders, refiners and supply-chain players are being forced to adapt.”

Iran is now preparing to pass a law introducing a toll, which would require any ship wanting to pass to share detailed information and hand over fees. This would formalize a system which multiple shipowners have already been reporting, as tankers are asked — through intermediaries — for cargo and crew lists, and, in some cases, for payment. Perhaps as part of this move to normalize control, some interference with signals has begun to ease, a change that would help navigation in the area.

International maritime law — the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea — specifies that transit passage should be allowed through critical waterways including this one, which consists of overlapping Iranian and Omani territorial waters. But neither Iran nor the US have formally ratified UNCLOS.

Sovereignty over the waterway is one of Tehran’s five conditions for peace presented to the US. 

Iran declared its control of the chokepoint immediately after US and Israel began strikes at the end of February, warning that no American vessel was allowed to enter the Persian Gulf. In early March, four ships with no clear ties to the US were hit by projectiles, resulting in at least three fatalities, rattling crews, shipowners and insurers.

The near-total closure of Hormuz since then, through threats and attacks, has proved an exceptionally effective asymmetric weapon in Iran’s fight against two of the world’s most powerful military forces. It gives Tehran a means of directly impacting global energy markets and of inflicting acute financial pain — in a way Washington has struggled to counter, despite floating options ranging from insurance support to naval escorts.

Out of the 110 individual ships that left the gulf this month, more than 36% were sanctioned Iranian ships or part of the so-called dark fleet serving Tehran, data compiled by Bloomberg show. For oil tankers, 21 out of 35 that have exited had direct Iranian ties — but most of the remainder went to nations with whom Tehran has a friendly relationship.

Until this war, one long-held assumption around Hormuz was that Iran would never attempt to close the strait, for fear of risking its own exports, a vital economic lifeline. In fact, ship-tracking data suggest that Tehran’s oil has continued to flow — almost entirely to China — even as other ships are stranded and producers in the region have been left scrambling for alternatives or forced to stop producing as storage fills up.

Iran exported roughly 1.8 million barrels a day this month, a nearly 8% increase from its average over 2025, according to figures from data intelligence firm Kpler as of March 26. That likely facilitated hundreds of millions of dollars of oil revenue for Tehran, a Bloomberg News analysis shows.

In contrast, exports over the same month from Iraq, situated deep in the Persian Gulf, plunged more than 80% compared to 2025 levels, while Saudi Arabia was more than a quarter below last year’s average — even with the help of a pipeline carrying its oil to the Red Sea.

The impact of Iran’s control is visible in oil markets, with Brent is up close to 60% this month. It is also translating into diplomatic clout, especially with large oil-importing nations. Countries such as India, Turkey, Pakistan and Thailand have have sought Tehran’s approval to get ships through and alleviate a tight energy crunch.

Even Washington has been forced to make concessions in order to cool prices, waiving sanctions on some seaborne Iranian oil. Buyers have been reluctant, given the risk of getting caught out as restrictions return — but India has taken its first Iranian LPG cargo in almost eight years.

Other Gulf producers, in the meantime, are rushing to redirect oil flows through alternative routes. 

Oil traders, shippers and all those reliant on long-established norms, are struggling to cope.

Overnight, freight rate assessments for a benchmark Middle East-to-China collapsed, prompting the Baltic Exchange to experiment with a new one originating from Oman, as ships divert to the Gulf of Oman and the Red Sea to pick up redirected flows. Local oil benchmarks have become incredibly erratic and unreliable, and no longer provide a true price-discovery function, according to traders and officials. The head of the International Energy Agency has urged European nations to consider decoupling gas and power prices to limit the fallout from the Iran war.

Insurers are also seeing unprecedented disruption. Almost the entire Middle East is now designated as a war zone by the Joint War Committee, a London-based group of underwriters. As a result, rates to offer premiums for additional war-risk cover for ships in the Persian Gulf and Hormuz have shot up, with those in the gulf at around 1.5% of a vessel’s value, and those for the strait hitting at times 10%.

Tehran’s toll in theory offers a framework to get traffic moving. In practice, it underscores the reality that even an end to the war will not bring a return to the status quo ante. Many larger shipowners and insurers say they will also struggle to take up the option even if they wanted to, for fear of falling foul of US sanctions.

“It would be a sort of slippery slope,” said Amanda Bjorn, head of claims at marine insurance broker Cambiaso Risso Asia, “if countries can decide that they’re not going to respect legislation that’s been in place for a good number of years now.”

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

Emerging economies in Asia have been among the most acutely impacted by a war in the Middle East that has upended the energy trade, pushing up prices and creating widespread shortages. Countries including the Philippines have indicated they would turn to others in the region for help through the supply crunch.

Tankers Ding Heng 36 and Auchentoshan delivered more than 260,000 barrels of diesel to the Philippines at the weekend, according to vessel tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. Great Ocean delivered about 100,000 barrels of distillate fuels to Vietnam over the same period, potentially alleviating shortages of oil products including diesel. It is unclear if the cargoes have been discharged.

The Philippines said on Sunday it was preparing to receive a first batch of diesel as a result of its oil diplomacy efforts, as the country grapples with a national emergency triggered by fuel shortfalls. Officials have not named specific suppliers, but China has been a top supplier of gasoil this month — accounting for more than half of Manila’s 158,000 barrels a day of imports.

“The precise mechanics of these deals tend to be opaque, given the nature of state-to-state negotiations, but the direction of flow is telling,” said Zameer Yusof, senior analyst at data intelligence firm Kpler. “Even with the clean petroleum product export curbs in place, China clearly retains leverage to direct barrels where it sees diplomatic value.”

Though the ships were loaded in the past week, it is possible that the sales themselves were cleared before authorities tightened restrictions. One of Asia’s most important fuel exporters, China banned overseas sales of oil products earlier this month to protect domestic consumers, with top refiners canceling some cargoes after being told to halt new deals and renegotiate existing ones. 

On the Wire

Iran’s weekend strikes on Middle Eastern aluminum plants are threatening to send a fragile market into crisis, raising the prospect of record prices for the metal used in everything from airplanes to food packaging and solar panels.

PetroChina Co.’s earnings fell last year, as softer crude oil prices and sluggish fuel demand weighed on profits.

China is directing private grain processors to expand and upgrade whole‑grain production, part of a broader drive to strengthen food security and modernize its agricultural supply chain.

This Week’s Diary

(All times Beijing)

Monday, March 30

• CMOC earnings webcast, 15:00
• PetroChina earnings briefing in HK, 16:00
• OilChem Gas Week in Chongqing, day 1
• EARNINGS: Shenhua, Ganfeng Lithium, Angang Steel, China MCC

Tuesday, March 31

• China’s official PMIs for March, 09:30
• Energy Storage International Conference and Expo in Beijing, day 1
• OilChem Gas Week in Chongqing, day 2

Wednesday, April 1

• China reduces or removes export tax rebates for solar, battery, chemical and plastics products
• RatingDog’s China factory PMI for March, 09:45
• CCTD’s weekly online briefing on coal markets, 15:00
• Energy Storage International Conference and Expo in Beijing, day 2
• OilChem Gas Week in Chongqing, day 3

Thursday, April 2

• CRU hosts global commodities forum in Beijing
• Energy Storage International Conference and Expo in Beijing, day 3
• OilChem Gas Week in Chongqing, day 4

Friday, April 3

• RatingDog’s China services & composite PMIs for March, 09:45
• China’s weekly iron ore port stockpiles
• SHFE’s weekly commodities inventory, ~15:30
• Energy Storage International Conference and Expo in Beijing, day 4
• HOLIDAY: Hong Kong

(Adds quote in paragraph five.)

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

The shipment of crude is expected to be allowed to arrive in coming days, according to two people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified without permission to speak publicly. 

The Anatoly Kolodkin is carrying around 730,000 barrels of crude. Cuban officials have taken some steps to work with the US in recent days, including allowing fuel for the US Embassy to arrive on the island after earlier saying publicly that they would prevent it because of the broader US near-total blockade, according to the people.

As of Sunday afternoon, the ship was approaching the island from Haitian waters as it headed toward Cuba’s western port of Matanzas.

President Donald Trump, speaking to reporters en route to Washington from his Florida estate, confirmed the tanker’s presence.

“We don’t mind having somebody get a boatload. They have to survive,” he said Sunday.

 The Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Trump has repeatedly threatened action against the leftist Cuban government amid an intensifying US push to deprive the government of fuel and financing. The island has suffered widespread blackouts in recent weeks as shipments of crude and fuel have been cut off under the near-total blockade.

“Cuba is finished,” Trump said. “They have very bad and corrupt leadership. And whether or not they get a boat of oil, it’s not going to matter. I’d prefer letting it in, whether it’s Russia or anybody else, because the people need heat and cooling and all of the other things that you need.”

The United Nations warned last month that the US campaign is having an “increasingly severe impact” on hospitals, public sanitation, water delivery and food distribution. It called on all countries to end economically coercive measures.

The electricity shortage has caused tens of thousands of surgeries to be postponed, cut off pregnant women and other patients from basic health services and disrupted dialysis, Tanieris Diéguez La O, the deputy chief of mission at Cuba’s embassy in Washington, said in an interview earlier this month.

While the island’s 10 million residents have been subject to chronic rolling outages for years, the crisis has intensified under Trump’s embargo. 

The fuel shipment should be enough to power Cuba’s thermoelectric power plants for about a week, given they require about 100,000 barrels of oil a day to meet demand. Cuba’s domestic production accounts for only around two-fifths of that.

The US is now regulating the flow of energy to the nation by letting companies sell fuel to its minuscule but fast-growing sector of small- and medium-sized businesses but not the government.

The New York Times earlier reported the Trump administration’s plans for the oil tanker. 

(Updates with Trump comments beginning in fifth paragraph.)

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.