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Asia midday crude futures: Ice Brent rises further
Ice Brent futures rose again in early Asian trading after increased hostilities in the Mideast Gulf.
The Ice front-month May Brent contract was at $112.04/bl at 04:00 GMT, up by $4.66/bl from its settlement on 18 March when it ended $3.96/bl higher.
The Nymex front-month April crude contract was at $97.28/bl, higher by 96¢/bl from its settlement on 18 March when it ended 11¢/bl higher.
US president Donald Trump has threatened to completely destroy Iran's South Pars gas field should Tehran continue its attacks against Qatar — in comments published shortly before state-owned QatarEnergy reported "extensive damage" to LNG facilities at Ras Laffan in a new attack earlier today.
Trump, in a post on his social media platform, denied knowledge of yesterday's attack on the South Pars gas field, which he said was conducted by Israel and did not involve Qatar — which was later targeted by Iranian missiles in apparent retaliation.
Israel will not carry out any further attacks on South Pars unless Iran attacks Qatar, Trump said. But if Qatar's LNG facilities are attacked again, the US, with or without Israel's consent, will "massively blow up the entirety of the South Pars Gas Field at an amount of strength and power that Iran has never seen or witnessed before," Trump said.
Soon after Trump's comments, QatarEnergy said Ras Laffan had suffered a new attack early on 19 March. Several LNG facilities were the subject of missile attacks, causing sizeable fires and extensive further damage, it said, without giving further details.
Elsewhere, the Trump administration further eased restrictions on oil and gas investment in Venezuela. The US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued a license lifting all restrictions on Venezuela oil and gas operations and allowing future upstream investment for all "established US entities", defined as companies that operated in the US as of 29 January 2025.
In addition, Federal Reserve policymakers kept their target interest rate unchanged on 18 March, citing uncertainty from "developments in the Middle East" prompted by the Iran war.
The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) is considering a proposal to establish a framework to facilitate the evacuation of merchant ships from within the Mideast Gulf to a safe place.
In an extraordinary meeting called to discuss the ongoing closure of the strait of Hormuz and the targeting of vessels in the region, the IMO discussed a proposal to facilitate the safe evacuation of merchant ships trapped north of, and around the strait of Hormuz. The proposal, submitted by Bahrain, Japan, Panama, Singapore and the UAE, suggests a "safe maritime corridor" through the strait as an example of what such a framework could produce.
But the IMO has no physical enforcement capacity and even if the delegates of the parties to the war — the US, Iran, and Israel — support the proposal, this is not a guarantee that their governments or military will implement the framework for the evacuation of merchant vessels.
Ice Brent futures rose again in early Asian trading after increased hostilities in the Mideast Gulf.
The Ice front-month May Brent contract was at $112.04/bl at 04:00 GMT, up by $4.66/bl from its settlement on 18 March when it ended $3.96/bl higher.
The Nymex front-month April crude contract was at $97.28/bl, higher by 96¢/bl from its settlement on 18 March when it ended 11¢/bl higher.
US president Donald Trump has threatened to completely destroy Iran's South Pars gas field should Tehran continue its attacks against Qatar — in comments published shortly before state-owned QatarEnergy reported "extensive damage" to LNG facilities at Ras Laffan in a new attack earlier today.
Trump, in a post on his social media platform, denied knowledge of yesterday's attack on the South Pars gas field, which he said was conducted by Israel and did not involve Qatar — which was later targeted by Iranian missiles in apparent retaliation.
Israel will not carry out any further attacks on South Pars unless Iran attacks Qatar, Trump said. But if Qatar's LNG facilities are attacked again, the US, with or without Israel's consent, will "massively blow up the entirety of the South Pars Gas Field at an amount of strength and power that Iran has never seen or witnessed before," Trump said.
Soon after Trump's comments, QatarEnergy said Ras Laffan had suffered a new attack early on 19 March. Several LNG facilities were the subject of missile attacks, causing sizeable fires and extensive further damage, it said, without giving further details.
Elsewhere, the Trump administration further eased restrictions on oil and gas investment in Venezuela. The US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued a license lifting all restrictions on Venezuela oil and gas operations and allowing future upstream investment for all "established US entities", defined as companies that operated in the US as of 29 January 2025.
In addition, Federal Reserve policymakers kept their target interest rate unchanged on 18 March, citing uncertainty from "developments in the Middle East" prompted by the Iran war.
The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) is considering a proposal to establish a framework to facilitate the evacuation of merchant ships from within the Mideast Gulf to a safe place.
In an extraordinary meeting called to discuss the ongoing closure of the strait of Hormuz and the targeting of vessels in the region, the IMO discussed a proposal to facilitate the safe evacuation of merchant ships trapped north of, and around the strait of Hormuz. The proposal, submitted by Bahrain, Japan, Panama, Singapore and the UAE, suggests a "safe maritime corridor" through the strait as an example of what such a framework could produce.
But the IMO has no physical enforcement capacity and even if the delegates of the parties to the war — the US, Iran, and Israel — support the proposal, this is not a guarantee that their governments or military will implement the framework for the evacuation of merchant vessels.
By YouLiang Chay