Oil Markets

Third-quarter earnings showed refiners reaping record profits from strong diesel margins and robust export demand, while upstream producers benefited from high crude prices but continued to favor cost reductions, efficiency gains, and shareholder returns over rapid production growth. Join S&P Global Energy oil senior editor Christopher van Moessner, Americas oil news senior writer Janet McGury, and editor Ashok Dutta as they discuss key takeaways for the upstream and downstream sectors emerging from their third-quarter earnings coverage and what lies ahead for these sectors in the coming months.

The European crude oil market is entering the final stretch of 2026 with a ballooning supply glut. Elevated freight is limiting the economics of moving barrels out of the region, while refineries are unable to absorb more feedstock. S&P Global Energy's Emma Kettley, associate director, price reporting, and reporters Ernest Puey and Jan Kedzior discuss the outlook for the regional market and the factors shaping the closing weeks of the year.

Asian middle distillate markets are entering the remainder of the fourth quarter with competing forces pulling the supply balance in different directions. Additional Chinese refined product export quotas could increase gasoil and jet fuel availability, while changing Russian diesel trade flows are reshaping global supply routes. At the same time, uncertainty surrounding the Strait of Hormuz continues to raise questions over Middle Eastern exports, freight costs and regional supply security.
In this episode of the Platts Oil Markets Podcast, Jonathan Nonis, associate editorial director for Asian oil products and market editors Mei Huey and Rachelle Teo from the Asia and Middle East pricing team discuss the outlook for gasoil and jet fuel in the fourth quarter. They examine whether additional Chinese exports could offset potential supply disruptions, how changing Russian diesel flows are influencing global trade patterns and whether physical supply, freight or geopolitical risk will ultimately prove the dominant force shaping middle distillate markets through the remainder of the quarter.

Could a shift in Congress reshape oil policy or just intensify the scrutiny? The US midterm elections are just around the corner, with all 435 House seats and 35 Senate seats on the ballot Nov. 3. At stake is whether Republicans retain control of Congress or Democrats win one or both chambers and gain new leverage over the Trump administration's energy agenda. On the Oil Markets Podcast by S&P Global Energy, host Jeff Mower joins policy editors Kate Winston and Eamonn Brennan to explore what the US midterms could mean for sanctions, investment and fuel prices.

The resumption of Russian diesel exports could bring some relief to a constrained European market, but uncertainty remains high. This episode unpacks how the lifting of Russia's diesel export ban and the return of supply could reshape market balances.
 Join S&P Global Energy's Gary Clark, associate director, price reporting, and reporters Sophia Aung and Elza Turner as they dissect what is keeping European diesel tight and why prices remain particularly sensitive to geopolitical and other market-moving headlines.