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Groundhog day

Tensions rise again, the Artic is an ace card for Russia and China and The Officials saw a job advert for seafarers to transit the Strait...
Published: August 10, 2026
Written by:
Will Cunliffe

Will Cunliffe

Research Analyst, The Officials
Will Cunliffe
and
Edward Hayden-Briffett

Edward Hayden-Briffett

Research Analyst, The Officials
Edward Hayden-Briffett
Reviewed by:
Jorge Montepeque

Jorge Montepeque

Head of Benchmarking, The Officials
Jorge Montepeque
Edition: Euro EditionVolume: 3Issue: 153
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Tensions rise again, the Artic is an ace card for Russia and China and The Officials saw a job advert for seafarers to transit the Strait...

Asia is away on holiday, but the Middle East war shows no signs of taking a break. The Houthis attacked Jazan refinery again – a fire has been extinguished according to the energy ministry. Meanwhile the factions in Yemen continue to shoot at each other. And Netanyahu refuses to withdraw from Gaza until Hamas disarms completely. Also, Iran hit another oil tanker off the Omani coast. The new Mecca Joint Defense Agreement between Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan put a bee under the Iranian bonnet as well – tensions are heating up yet again…Flat price opened higher after the weekend, jumping to above $84. The morning was quiet with Asia on holiday, but prices leapt to almost $87 by the afternoon. Despite flat price’s strength, the prompt spread declined from over $2 at the open to $1.76 by the European close.

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The Officials publish outright values, spreads, cracks and boxes for the main energy commodities traded in the marketplace. The published values are determined independently and on a fair market basis by our team of dedicated professionals.

We invite you to read our reports, which are published twice a day, reflecting closing values at 16:30 Singapore time (SGT) and at 16:30 London time (GMT/BST). For any comments, please reach out to us through the emails provided in the signed documents.

Written by

Will Cunliffe

Research Analyst, The Officials
Will Cunliffe

Edward Hayden-Briffett

Research Analyst, The Officials
Edward Hayden-Briffett

About Euro Edition

Benchmark reports published at the end of the London trading day.

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