India and Saudi Arabia are to collaborate on the development of two integrated refinery and petrochemical plants in India. The plan was announced after Indian prime minister Narendra Modi met Saudi counterpart Mohammed bin Salman in Jeddah on 22 April, as part of the India–Saudi Arabia Strategic Partnership Council. Saudi Arabia in 2019 pledged to invest $100bn in India in several sectors including energy and petrochemicals. No further details have been provided but the projects could be Indian state-run BPCL's planned facility in Andhra Pradesh and oil firm ONGC's refinery project in Gujarat, according to industry participants. Plans for a 1.2mn b/d refinery in Ratnagiri alongside the UAE's Adnoc have been abandoned because of logistical and land acquisition challenges, industry participants say.
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US DOE: Roughly 7mn b/d moving through Hormuz
US DOE: Roughly 7mn b/d moving through Hormuz
Houston, 12 June (Argus) — About 7mn b/d of crude and oil products are moving through the strait of Hormuz, US energy secretary Chris Wright said today, but other industry sources dispute that figure. The 7mn b/d is "a rough average of where we are right now, and it's rising," Wright said at the Bloomberg Energy Security Executive Briefing in Houston, Texas, Friday. The number is about half of the 14mn b/d gap in supply caused by the de facto closing of the waterway since the start of the war, which also saw several million barrels a day diverted through regional pipelines, Wright said. A very large crude carrier (VLCC) carries 2mn bl of crude so Wright's estimate is equivalent to about 3.5 VLCCs a day. But oil major Chevron's chief executive Mike Wirth, who spoke later at the same event, raised doubts about Wright's 7mn b/d estimate. "It's probably not quite that much," Wirth said. "There are ships that have been transiting out, typically with transponders off, typically at night, and with some support from the US military," he added. The US' claims come at a time when visible commercial traffic through the waterway fell to some of its lowest levels since the conflict began. Mideast Gulf crude exports through the strait in June have averaged between 226,000-330,000 b/d, according to vessel tracking data from Kpler and Vortexa, but those figures likely undercount the total because vessels are turning their Automatic Identification System data while in the region to avoid attention. Maritime consultancy Windward data shows such "dark" transits through Hormuz have averaged four vessels across all segments per day this week, although those figures could include ships other than crude and refined products tankers. Prior to the war's start an average of 130 ships passed through the strait daily.Mideast and crude flows were about 14mn-15mn b/d. Mideast Gulf exports of energy, fertilizer and other commodities have been heavily limited since the start of the war in Iran, which has used the threat of attacks and naval mines to restrict traffic through the strait of Hormuz. The US and Iran are closing in on a deal to end military hostilities, even as they spar over the terms of an agreement that President Donald Trump says could be signed soon. But even if a deal is close to being signed, ship operators remain reluctant to send their tankers through the strait because of the high risk to seafarers, and will likely need to see sustained stability in the region for transits to meaningfully rebound to anything near pre-war levels. Since the war started, there have been 46 vessel attacks with 14 seafarer deaths, according to the International Maritime Organization (IMO). In its latest Short-Term Energy Outlook the US Energy Information Administration said it does not expect Hormuz traffic to recover to pre-war levels until at least early 2027. Trump said on Wednesday that the US military has been facilitating the transit of oil tankers through the strait. The US Navy is not actively escorting vessels through the strait of Hormuz, but is helping to "coach" vessels through a corridor south of the typical strait of Hormuz traffic lanes that cuts through Omani territorial waters, according to marine insurer Skuld. By Eunice Bridges and Nicholas Watt Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2026. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Energy transition must 'reflect national circumstances'
Energy transition must 'reflect national circumstances'
Sao Paulo, 12 June (Argus) — The roadmap for the transition away from fossil fuels being drafted by the UN Cop 30 climate summit's presidency will "reflect diverse national circumstances", the Cop 30 presidency said on Friday during the Bonn climate talks. The roadmap — which was first proposed by Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva during Cop 30 , held in Brazil last November — will consider "different levels of socioeconomic development, energy access, fossil fuel dependency and capacity to transition", among other factors, the Cop 30 presidency said. The roadmap has so far received input from 115 countries and 247 non-state actors, the presidency said. The Cop 30 presidency has so far identified four main levers to accelerate the roadmap's implementation: Reforming the international financial architecture, which would include linking debt-relief mechanisms to the transition away from fossil fuels and increasing access to concessional finance and global carbon markets; Strengthening capacity-building, enabling technology sharing, in particular in transportation, supporting innovation in hard-to-abate sectors and increasing energy efficiency and electrification rates; Implementing regional and global cooperation mechanisms to reform international trade and legal framework for investments, and foster producer-consumer dialogue; Prioritizing the just transition, particularly for fossil fuel-dependent economies, by addressing competing development priorities, with information integrity and building trust across countries at different stages of development. During the meeting, a representative from the International Renewable Energy Agency agreed that electrification will be key to the global transition away from fossil fuels. The topic is set to take center stage during Cop 31, which will be held in Turkey in November, as that country has proposed a global goal for electricity to reach 35pc of global final energy consumption by 2035 as part of its action agenda. Some of the main barriers encountered so far for the transition away from fossil fuels are "structural imbalances in the global financial architecture, insufficient de-risking mechanisms and continued international finance flows towards fossil projects", the Cop 30 presidency added. The presidency has also found that the concentration of clean energy supply chains, the high-cost nature of nascent, hard-to-abate solutions, and limited technology sharing, as well as the absence of dedicated transition coordination mechanisms, also hinder the transition. Other factors such as insufficient political leadership, geopolitical uncertainty and armed conflicts — such as the Iran war — and outdated legal and trade frameworks are also hurdles for the transition. "The recent geopolitical crisis has shown very clearly how fossil fuels are linked to vulnerabilities, and we need to address this in the roadmap," Cop 30 president Andre Correa do Lago said. But the roadmap's implementation will be much easier than other climate negotiations, he added. "The great advantage of implementation is that we have much more freedom to implement than to negotiate," he said. "Negotiation requires consensus; implementation does not." The Cop 30 presidency expects to unveil the roadmap during Cop 31. It is also working on a roadmap to address deforestation, which it will also unveil at Cop 31. By Lucas Parolin Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2026. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Trump calls off attack on Iran: Update 2
Trump calls off attack on Iran: Update 2
Updates with Trump's latest remarks Washington, 11 June (Argus) — President Donald Trump on Thursday called off the threat of an attack on Iran he announced hours earlier, citing progress on a "great settlement" of the Iran war he said could be signed as early as this weekend. That deal could be signed in Europe "soon, maybe this weekend", Trump said, who added that it was his understanding that Iran's supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei also approved of the deal. Iran has yet to confirm its support of the agreement, which Trump said was "subject to finalization of documents" over the next few days. "The strait will officially open as soon as we sign, which could be soon — very soon — maybe over the weekend, in Europe," Trump said. Trump has previously overstated progress in talks with Iran, incorrectly stating in April that Iran had agreed to "completely open" the strait of Hormuz during a ceasefire. This afternoon, Trump said the pending deal was a "very detailed memorandum of understanding" that is "a little conceptual" that has also been "agreed to by many other countries that have great influence over" Iran. "We hope it's going to go relatively quickly," Trump said of further talks with Iran once a deal is signed. "The straits are going to open immediately upon signing, maybe it will be Saturday or Monday." Earlier this afternoon, Trump said progress in negotiations led him to call off plans he announced this morning to launch a "VERY HARD" wave of strikes and bombing tonight against Tehran. Trump had threatened to take control of Iran's Kharg Island in the Mideast Gulf, along with other oil infrastructure. Trump's now-canceled threat of a major military attack followed two days of heavy clashes between the US and Iranian armed forces. The US has pounded Iran's defensive and — according to Tehran — civilian infrastructure near the strait of Hormuz and across Iran. Iran's military responded with attacks on US bases in Jordan, Kuwait and Bahrain. Both the US and Iranian navies have attacked commercial vessels in the Gulf of Oman and the strait of Hormuz, respectively. Control of navigation through the critical Mideast Gulf waterway appears to have been the cause of the latest flare up. Trump said on Wednesday that the US military was running a clandestine operation to unblock Hormuz and that over 100mn bl and hundreds of vessels traveled the strait under the US military umbrella. Iran, which also claimed to be directing limited traffic through the strait, said on Thursday that the strait of Hormuz was "closed" following overnight US strikes on Iran. By Chris Knight and Haik Gugarats Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2026. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Feedstock boom to drive Argentina petchems
Feedstock boom to drive Argentina petchems
Sao Paulo, 11 June (Argus) — Argentina's petrochemical industry has entered a new investment cycle, supported by abundant feedstock from the Vaca Muerta formation and a renewed push to add value domestically rather than export raw molecules, company executives said. The executives, who gathered in Buenos Aires on 9 June for an event marking the 50th anniversary of the Argentinian Petrochemicals Institute (IPA), described a sector with access to a far larger resource base than in the 1990s, when much of Argentina's current production platform was built. The group included chief executives from leading companies such as Mega, Profertil, Petroquimica Cuyo, Unipar and Dow. The key difference today from the 1990s is scale, they said. The Vaca Muerta shale formation offers abundant natural gas and associated natural gas liquids (NGLs) capable of underpinning multiple industrial projects across the value chain. As feedstock access is no longer the main constraint, Argentina now has sufficient ethane, propane, butane and natural gas to sustain long-term growth. But the timing of new projects will depend on global market conditions, financing costs and the ability to provide stable rules for long-term investments. Executives highlighted global imbalances as a major constraint for ethylene and its derivatives. The global industry is operating in a downcycle, with utilization rates below profitability thresholds and persistent oversupply in polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), partly driven by rapid capacity additions in China. At the same time, geopolitical tensions have introduced volatility in logistics and trade flows. Any sustained disruption or capacity rationalization could help rebalance markets and bring forward investment decisions in Argentina. Midstream and petrochemical company Mega's expansion, in the Bahia Blanca port, emerged as the most advanced downstream project. The company has commissioned a new fractionation train after investing around $260mn, increasing liquids processing capacity and enabling higher output of NGLs, critical feedstocks for petrochemical chains. A second phase, submitted under Argentina's incentive regime for large investments (Rigi), would expand transport and pumping capacity between Bahia Blanca and Neuquen, raising the total investment to about $360mn. The project is seen as key to unlocking greater availability of ethane and LPG for ethylene, PE and PP production. Executives stressed that ethane industrialization is strategically necessary but commercially challenging in the short term. Rising LNG developments will generate large volumes of ethane that must be extracted from natural gas streams. Without sufficient downstream capacity, Argentina risks exporting or burning this feedstock instead of converting it into higher-value petrochemicals. But weak margins and limited demand growth continue to delay large-scale ethylene and PE projects. Argentinian PP producer Petrocuyo reinforced the case for capturing more value through domestic PP production. The company argued that Argentina should prioritize converting propane into polymers rather than exporting raw molecules. But it warned that Chinese overcapacity continues to pressure PP markets and that high local financing costs remain a major barrier compared with lower-cost international competitors. Brazilian chlor-alkali producer Unipar Carbocloro, which also operates in Argentina, outlined a more defensive investment approach, focused on competitiveness rather than volume growth. The company is evaluating a modernization project in Bahia Blanca that would reduce electricity consumption by around 30pc, cut water use and lower carbon intensity. Nitrogen fertilizer producer Profertil pointed to comparatively stronger fundamentals in fertilizers, although executives acknowledged that nitrogen projects currently face fewer structural headwinds than olefins and polyolefins. The panel closed with broad consensus: Argentina has the resources and industrial base to support a new petrochemical wave. But converting feedstock into sustained growth in ethylene, PE and PP will depend on aligning infrastructure, financing, market timing and policy support. By Fred Fernandes Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2026. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
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