Five weeks of the Hormuz crisis have exposed a truth that Asia’s energy regulators have been reluctant to confront: the region’s energy security regulatory architecture is designed for a world that assumed the Strait of Hormuz would always remain open. Japan’s emergency reserve framework, Korea’s petroleum business regulations, India’s strategic reserve management, and the IEA’s…
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s meeting with President Trump at the White House on Wednesday produced a framework for expanded bilateral trade and deepened defense cooperation, though the full details of any trade agreement remain subject to further negotiation. The summit, which marked Takaichi’s first official visit to Washington since securing her historic supermajority in February,…
The Trump administration’s decision to temporarily suspend enforcement of sanctions on Russian oil shipments to Asia, allowing 30 Russia-connected petroleum tankers carrying 19 million barrels to deliver cargoes through April 11, represents one of the most remarkable regulatory pivots in the history of U.S. energy sanctions policy. The same administration that escalated the conflict with…
QatarEnergy’s declaration of force majeure on all LNG export contracts, issued in the aftermath of the Hormuz closure and the Iranian strike on the Ras Laffan facility, has triggered the largest simultaneous invocation of contractual force majeure provisions in the history of the global energy trade. The declaration affects long-term supply agreements with buyers across…
