Commodities Weekly US diesel ban; crude scarcity; China’s copper squeeze The prospect of a US ban on diesel exports threatens to make a bad situation worse, especially as signs of physical scarcity in the crude oil market have emerged. Our sense is that while the White... 25th September 2026 · 4 mins read
Commodities Update The anatomy of the diesel “shock” It now seems more likely than not that some form of export restriction of US diesel will come into place ahead of the midterms which will exacerbate the ongoing diesel “shock”. Most refineries have... 24th September 2026 · 4 mins read
Commodities Update China’s appetite for oil has reached a fork in the road With the conflict in the Middle East constraining OPEC’s influence on oil supply, changes in Chinese oil demand have become the “swing” factor in the global oil market. China probably could cut back... 24th September 2026 · 5 mins read
Commodities Update US export ban would add fuel to the diesel crisis A ban on diesel exports by the US would exacerbate the existing severe strains in the global diesel market and drive prices outside of the US even higher in the short term. Nonetheless, given that a... 23rd September 2026 · 4 mins read
Commodities Weekly Lessons from the pipeline attack; the Fed and commodities The net impact of the recent attack on Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline could even feasibly result in slightly higher oil flows over time. But the bigger picture is that the oil market remains in a... 18th September 2026 · 4 mins read
Europe Economics Update Euro-zone inflation to hit 4% by December We forecast headline inflation in the euro-zone to jump from 3.2% in August to 3.8% in September. And we think that increases in energy, food and core inflation will push it up to 4% by December. But... 17th September 2026 · 3 mins read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Weekly East-West pipeline, rate hikes, Morocco’s election The attack on Saudi Arabia’s East-West oil pipeline poses a downside risk to our growth forecast. The fiscal hit could also be significant, limiting scope for a policy response to support the economy... 17th September 2026 · 5 mins read
Commodities Update A bigger oil demand adjustment lies ahead Global oil demand has been surprisingly resilient so far given the scale of the supply shock. But if that resilience persists and supply from the Middle East remains constrained, a sustained period of... 16th September 2026 · 4 mins read
Commodities Update Key questions on the closure of the East-West pipeline The attack on Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline could impact up to 4% of global oil supply and each week of the pipeline’s closure could knock up to 0.3%-pts off Saudi Arabia’s GDP. Uncertainty about... 14th September 2026 · 6 mins read
Commodities Outlook Normality on hold The recovery in energy exports from the Middle East will take longer than we previously expected and is consistent with continued draws on global oil stocks as well as a further tightening in natural... 11th September 2026 · 15 mins read
Commodities Weekly Physical tightness driving oil prices; Iraq-xit on the cards? The fact that the spot price of Brent crude has risen faster and further than the front-month contract this week highlights the increasing strains in the physical oil market, and how the current bad... 11th September 2026 · 4 mins read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Weekly Houthi attacks, Egypt refineries, Qatar’s budget blowout The step up in attacks in the Strait of Hormuz and by the Houthis against Saudi Arabia suggests that Iran and its proxies are trying to regain the initiative in the war. This raises the risk of a... 10th September 2026 · 6 mins read
Commodities Weekly Separating fact from fiction on Venezuela’s oil The deal reached by the US government to secure greater access to Venezuela’s oil reserves won’t provide a quick fix to Venezuela’s ailing oil industry nor the current bout of high prices. Other... 4th September 2026 · 4 mins read
Commodities Update New (higher) energy price forecasts With a swift resolution to the Hormuz crisis looking unlikely, our new working assumption is that energy flows from the Middle East only return to pre-war levels early next year. While we still... 3rd September 2026 · 3 mins read
Commodities Weekly The good, the bad and the ugly in the oil market Reports that more crude oil has been traversing the Strait of Hormuz has eased immediate concerns about the availability of crude oil supply. Reasons for caution remain, though, as the White House's... 28th August 2026 · 3 mins read
