✈️ Airlines have been warned that they will face jet fuel shortages as soon as next month, risking flight cancellations to long-haul destinations at the end of the busy Easter holiday period

Oil traders expect to see shortages of jet fuel from the continued closure of the Strait of Hormuz within the coming weeks as reserve supplies are run down and not replaced

This week, Vietnam became the first country to warn of possible flight cancellations from April after China and Thailand announced they were halting exports of fuel to maintain their own supplies

Other countries are expected to follow suit in the coming days with industry experts warning that airlines could be forced to stop serving some long-haul destinations because they may not be able to get the fuel for the return journey

Britain is also vulnerable to potential disruption if the conflict continues as the majority of the country’s imported jet fuel comes from Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates

🔗 https://archive.ph/1IBgD

🇺🇸🙏🇮🇷 Iranian diplomatic source to IranNow:

The U.S. has reportedly, for the third time today, sent a message via a regional intermediary requesting a halt to the war.

This time, the request was accompanied by a threat to escalate assassinations inside Iran if Tehran does not comply.

Iran reportedly responded that its position remains unchanged: no ceasefire until its objectives are achieved.

🔗 Iran Now

🇺🇸⚔️🇮🇷 U.S. Marines Are Rushing to Join the War on Iran

USS Tripoli (LHA-7), an America-class amphibious assault ship, and USS New Orleans (LPD-18), a San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock, were both spotted yesterday transiting the Strait of Malacca en route to the Middle East.

🔗 EGYOSINT

🇨🇳🇺🇸 Chaos over Donald Trump’s China trip likely to further test Beijing’s patience with US

The US leader’s call for a delay as he focuses on the Iran war follows reports of growing frustration at the White House’s erratic behaviour

Visits to China by foreign leaders are tightly choreographed and meticulously planned affairs, even by the usual standards of international diplomacy.

But the chaotic nature of Donald Trump’s White House and his request to delay a planned visit to China in the wake of his decision to attack Iran are widely believed to be causing increasing frustration in Beijing.

The South China Morning Post has previously reported that preparations for the visit had been dogged by problems, with the Chinese side said to be “apoplectic” about the way Washington’s approach had been increasingly shaped by a president dismissive of norms and traditions.

Trump had initially planned to visit China between March 31 and April 2, but as the war with Iran intensified and Tehran tightened its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, he said his trip would be delayed by “five or six weeks”.

Sun Chenghao, a fellow at Tsinghua University’s Centre for International Security and Strategy, said Trump kept changing his reasons for the delay – first linking it to China’s willingness to help ease the blockade, then saying it was because of logistics.

He said this might lead Beijing to conclude “that the problem lies in the internal coordination chaos on the US side and a failure to separate crisis management from summit preparations”.

He added that a delay would send a signal that, “under this Trump-style diplomacy, even highly important leader-level meetings will be strongly disrupted by external crises and internal divisions”.

Trump’s efforts to pressure China, as well as major US allies, to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz suggested he was “subjectively changing the way he views the China visit”, Sun added.

“He no longer sees it simply as a bilateral summit between China and the US, but is attempting to embed it within a broader framework of global crisis management and transactional diplomacy.

“It means that it is difficult for Trump, at the current stage, to treat the China visit … as a highly focused, resource-concentrated and protocol-prioritised strategic visit.”

🔗 https://archive.ph/BgkzR

🛢 The market is largely pricing in a US oil export ban: Brent less WTI spread is the widest in decades (ex the negative WTI print).

Export ban would landlock US oil, sending it sharply lower while sending Brent soaring

🔗 Zerohedge

⚠️💻 Copper starting to price in recession: Mining stocks underperform as copper gave up its gains for this year and gold declined for a seventh day. Newmont (NEM) falls 7% and Freeport-McMoRan (FCX) declines 4%.

🔗 Zerohedge

🛢 A spike in oil prices always coincided with a global recession

@CIG_telegram

🇰🇷🤝🇷🇺 South Korea considers importing Russian oil, naphtha, Industry Ministry says — Reuters

South Korea has stopped imports of ​Russian crude oil since December 2022 following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, according to data, opens new tab from the Korea National Oil Corporation.

Russian crude oil ​accounted for 5.6% of South Korea's shipments in ​2021, a report from the state-run think tank Korea Institute for ‌International ⁠Economic Policy said.

The country's energy exposure to the Middle East has increased because of the conflict in Ukraine, the report said.

South Korea imports around 70% of ​crude oil ​and half ⁠of naphtha through the Strait of Hormuz, according to South Korean lawmakers and the ​industry ministry.

It is also a big importer ​of ⁠naphtha, which is broken down into petrochemicals used in plastics for automobiles, electronics, clothing and construction.

📝Angelica Oung: Russia has spent billions and billions of dollars building ghost pipelines to serve the Japan and SK markets. They are still incomplete but it would be barely an inconvenience to finish them.

I assume they would want to sign nice long contracts and the Asian counterparties would be relieved not to be dependent on Middle East for energy.

Bad news for Europe if all this goes down…their gas at preferential prices might never come back.

🔗 https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/south-korea-considers-importing-russian-oil-naphtha-industry-ministry-says-2026-03-19/?taid=69bb9a4b227d84000121b167