Saudi Aramco Posts 26% Profit Jump as Pipeline Bypasses Iran War Chokepoint

Saudi Aramco reported a 26% year-on-year jump in first-quarter profits on Sunday, with adjusted net income standing at $33.6 billion, compared with $26.6 billion in the same period last year , according to CNBC. The profit figure beat analyst forecasts , as the world's largest oil company demonstrated what its CEO called operational resilience in navigating the global energy crisis triggered by the Iran war.

The standout factor behind Aramco's performance: Aramco's East-West pipeline reached its maximum capacity of seven million barrels per day in the first quarter , according to CNBC. The pipeline "has proven itself to be a critical supply artery, helping to mitigate the impact of a global energy shock and providing relief to customers affected by shipping constraints in the Strait of Hormuz" , Aramco CEO Amin Nasser said in a statement reported by The National.

Following the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz by Iran after the start of the war on February 28, Saudi Arabia shifted exports to its west coast , according to The National. Total revenue surged nearly 7% from a year earlier to $115.49 billion due to higher prices and volumes sold of both crude oil and refined and chemical products , Reuters reported.

According to market data, WTI crude traded at $71.50 per barrel on Friday, up 0.6%, while Brent crude stood at $75.20 per barrel, up 0.5%.

Qatar Breaks Through Hormuz Blockade

In a potentially significant development, the Al Kharaitiyat, which loaded at the Ras Laffan export plant earlier this month, exited the strait and is in the Gulf of Oman , according to Bloomberg ship-tracking data. The vessel lists Pakistan as its next destination , Bloomberg reported.

The LNG is being sold by Qatar to Pakistan, a mediator in the war, under a government-to-government deal, according to two people familiar with the matter , The New Arab reported. Sources told Reuters that Iran had approved the latest shipment from Qatar and Pakistan under a government-to-government deal .

While the Al Kharaitiyat's journey offers tentative signs that more LNG flows could resume, it's a far cry from prewar levels of roughly three shipments a day out of the Persian Gulf , according to Bloomberg. Iranian attacks knocked out 17 percent of Qatar's LNG export capacity, with repairs expected to sideline 12.8 million tons per year of the fuel for three to five years , The New Arab reported.

Africa's Richest Man Eyes Kenya for Mega-Refinery

Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote is looking at Kenya as the site of a 650,000-barrel-a-day oil refinery that he intends to build in East Africa , the Financial Times reported Sunday. "I'm leaning more towards Mombasa because Mombasa has a much larger, deeper port," Dangote said in the interview .

The report comes after Kenyan President William Ruto said last month that East African countries were discussing plans for a joint oil refinery at the Tanzanian port of Tanga that is modeled on Nigeria's Dangote operation , according to Reuters. However, Dangote in the interview compared Kenya's Mombasa to Tanzania's Tanga port, and said, "Kenyans consume more. It's a bigger economy" .

Dangote estimated it would cost $15 billion to $17 billion to build the refinery , the Financial Times reported. The project reflects growing African efforts to reduce dependence on Middle Eastern fuel imports amid the ongoing supply crisis.

Trump Administration Eyes Military Bases for Oil Drilling

The Trump administration is studying using oil under land at US military bases and other Department of War sites to help refill the nation's depleted emergency reserves , Bloomberg reported this week. SPR stocks have sunk to 392 million barrels as of May 1 , according to OilPrice.com.

"We have military bases or facilities that are in the middle of oil fields, but there is no development under those resources — that's crazy. It's right there," Secretary Wright said at a recent event held by the Wall Street Journal . A project to drill under military bases is unlikely to have any immediate impact on energy prices, but it could allow the U.S. government to outright own the oil produced and not need to make purchases from private producers to replenish inventories , according to World Oil.

Despite the crash in oil prices earlier this week, the average U.S. gasoline price hit $4.50 per gallon for the first time since July 2022, and continued creeping higher amid the global supply shock following the closure of the Strait of Hormuz , OilPrice.com reported.

Australia Deploys 'Petro-Diplomacy' to Secure Fuel

Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has turned to "fuel diplomacy", with recent visits to Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei, where he has been trying to shore up the supply of fuel and fertiliser , Al Jazeera reported. As a major exporter of LNG and coal, Australia has some leverage in these negotiations , according to Tim Buckley, director of think tank Climate Energy Finance.

Australia and Singapore agreed to maintain a continued flow of petrol, diesel, and liquefied natural gas (LNG) between the two nations. In a joint statement, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his Singaporean counterpart Lawrence Wong said that their countries shared a "deep concern over the situation in the Middle East and its consequences for our region, such as the impact on energy supply chains and prices" , The Diplomat reported.

At least 600 retail sites across the country have run out of at least one type of fuel, Energy Minister Chris Bowen told parliament on Tuesday. The shortages were mainly concentrated in the two most populous states, New South Wales and Victoria, where it affected about 10% of total outlets , Bloomberg reported in late March.

Kazakhstan's Data Center Ambitions Face Power Deficit

Kazakhstan's Ministry of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development has signed an agreement with an international consortium to start building out the government's plan to turn the Central Asian state into a data center hub. The project's timeline appears to hinge on Kazakhstan's ability to close an existing power deficit. The ministry's memorandum of understanding with a consortium led by an entity called JMOT04 Ltd. provides for the construction of a Tier IV data center, the most powerful and reliable classification for such facilities, at a cost of up to $1.5 billion , OilPrice.com reported.

To ensure the data center has a reliable electricity supply, the memo also calls for the building of a gas-fired power plant with an annual generating capacity of 250 Megawatts, at an estimated cost of upwards of $400 million , according to Eurasianet. Within a decade, officials hope to double the country's existing power-generating capacity, which stood at about 26.8 gigawatts at the outset of 2026. But existing plans to add capacity have already hit snags, prompting concerns about production delays , Eurasianet reported.

China's Energy Imports Drop Sharply

Crude oil imports fell 20% in April to 38.5 million metric tons compared to a year earlier, hitting their lowest level since July 2022, according to customs data released on Saturday , Asharq Al-Awsat reported. The disruption in the Middle East has led China to tightly manage exports of refined products such as gasoline or jet fuel to protect its domestic market. That policy drove refined oil product exports for April down to their lowest in roughly a decade at 3.1 million tons, down by about a third since March .

The energy crisis continues to reshape global trade flows and accelerate infrastructure projects designed to reduce dependence on Middle Eastern oil, from East African refineries to Central Asian data centers powered by local gas. As the ceasefire between the US and Iran remains fragile, energy markets are watching closely to see whether the tentative reopening of Hormuz shipping lanes can be sustained.