Middle East export disruptions, soaring gasoline demand and shifting trade flows have reshaped global naphtha markets over the past six months. Join Gary Clark, associate director, price reporting, and Barbara Fernandez-Pita, senior price reporter, as they break down what prompted the multiyear highs in gasoline blending demand for naphtha, the widening East-West arbitrage, propane's growing advantage over naphtha at the steam crackers and the Rhine logistics issues disrupting Europe's petrochemical sector.

Energy markets are once again being tested by geopolitics. With fragile shipping routes and shifting trade patterns, energy security has returned to the top of the agenda. As the industry prepares for APPEC 2026, hosted by S&P Global Energy, the focus is no longer just on market access but on securing reliable, long-term energy supplies. Asia remains the center of gravity for global energy demand, yet the region's priorities are evolving. The industry's biggest questions are: Where will reliable energy come from? How will trade flows shift? And how can the region balance growth with decarbonization?

In this episode of the Platts Oil Markets Podcast, Asia energy editor Sambit Mohanty is joined by Vera Blei, head of Platts; Debangsu Ray, cluster president and head of Reliance's Jamnagar refinery; and Calvin Lee, head of Asia content. They discuss the key themes that will be in focus at the conference, scheduled to take place in Singapore from Sept. 7–10.

As summer driving reaches its seasonal peak, European gasoline production faces challenging chokepoints amid broader macro trends reshaping supply and demand fundamentals. In this episode, S&P Global Energy's Emma Kettley is joined by Friedrich Gutsche and Rebeka Foley to discuss how restrictive domestic flows have weighed on gasoline blending economics, adding pressure on the regional supply balance, amid historically low Rhine water levels. Tune in to find out how these trends will play out ahead of the market's transition from summer to winter, and uncover how global dynamics are shaping regional consumer demand.

North American oil companies delivered a striking second-quarter earnings season. Upstream producers raised output guidance while maintaining capital discipline, arguing that efficiency gains, not higher spending, are driving growth. Meanwhile, refiners benefited from some of the strongest margins since 2022, fueled by robust diesel and jet fuel demand, lower Chinese exports, refinery outages in Russia, and Middle East-related disruptions. Jeff Mower is joined by Janet McGurty and Ashok Dutta to unpack the key earnings themes shaping oil markets.

The Rhine River is one of Europe's most important trade arteries, carrying diesel, gasoil, and other refined products from the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp hub to consumers across Germany, Switzerland, and beyond. As water levels fall toward historic lows, barges are carrying reduced loads, freight costs are surging, and supply chains are coming under increasing pressure. With Rhine water levels approaching record lows, Europe's energy industry faces mounting logistical challenges that threaten to disrupt the inland movement of fuel. In this episode, Emma Kettley, price reporting associate director, EMEA crude and fuel oil, joins Middle Distillate Price Reporters David Neef and Sophia Aung to explore how declining water levels are driving up freight costs, tightening supply chains, and adding fresh pressure to an already constrained diesel market.

Diesel prices have soared, driven by supply constraints through the Strait of Hormuz and by the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. Ukraine has been able to knock out a sizable percentage of Russia's refining capacity, shrinking global supplies.

Where does that leave Brazil, which has been dependent on diesel imports from Russia? How do Brazil's price subsidies impact diesel supplies? What role could India play in supplying diesel fuel? What policy options, if any, does the Trump administration have to solve the supply problem? Join Jeff Mower, S&P Global Energy's director of Americas oil news, as he dissects these topics with Aaron Tucker, managing editor of Americas middle distillates, and Renato Rostas, Brazil oil price manager.

Renewed tensions surrounding the Strait of Hormuz have refocused attention on supply security, freight costs and export flows across Asian refined products markets. While demand for gasoline, gasoil, jet fuel and naphtha remained broadly resilient, market participants are once again assessing the risk of disruptions to Middle Eastern exports and their impact on regional trade flows.

In this episode of the Platts Oil Markets Podcast, Jonathan Nonis, Associate Editorial Director, is joined by the Asian oil product editorial team of Wanda Wang, Rachelle Teo and Joshua Ong to discuss how renewed geopolitical uncertainty is influencing gasoline, gasoil, jet fuel and naphtha markets in the region, the implications for supply, freight and arbitrage economics, and how buyers and sellers are adapting to a more volatile trading environment.

The announcement of a Russian ban on diesel exports following supply shortages at gas stations across the country has spurred cracks to widen significantly in the European market at a time when product markets continue to face uncertainty over the recovery of supply from the Persian Gulf and crude markets face pressure from low Chinese demand.

In this episode, Gary Clark, associate director, price reporting, Elza Turner, global lead specialist, price reporting, Virginie Malicier, price reporting manager, and senior price reporter Patrick McAllister peel back the key developments behind the recent pricing movements, providing an update on the situation within Russia, the European middle distillate space and the European crude complex.

Aside from a handful of high-profile deals, merger and acquisition activity in the US oil and gas sector has been tepid in recent months even as war in the Middle East pushed oil prices to multi-year highs.

In this episode, S&P Global Energy's Christopher van Moessner, editor, oil futures, is joined by Americas news editor Ashok Dutta and senior reporter Eamonn Brennan to discuss the outlook for M&A activity in the sector and how it has been impacted by a White House that from the start has positioned itself as pro-oil. They dig into how the administration's deregulation efforts have so far failed to manifest in a wave of oil and gas dealmaking that has been seen in other industries, and how capex discipline and general price uncertainty have presented headwinds to M&A activity in the sector.

The effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz following escalating tensions in the Middle East sent European fuel oil imports from the Gulf plummeting 95% in the first half of 2026. Supply chains faced unprecedented disruption while risk premiums skyrocketed across the bunker market.

In this episode, S&P Global Energy's Emma Kettley, associate director, price reporting, is joined by reporters Joseph Jaffe, Iman Rezig and Awa Bobb in examining how different fuel oil grades responded to the crisis, from high sulfur fuel oil cracks surging into positive territory to bunker-barge spreads widening over 200% from pre-war levels. They dissect how the June peace agreement between the US and Iran has reshaped fuel oil fundamentals, why VLSFO markets proved more resilient than HSFO during the crisis, and what the current contango structure signals for European fuel oil supply as summer demand patterns emerge.