🇺🇸⚔️🇮🇷 The U.S. Air Force is building up its bomber force at RAF Fairford 🇬🇧 for Operation Epic Fury against Iran.

At least 3 B-52H Stratofortress bombers and 8 B-1B Lancers are now forward-deployed, setting the stage for a heavier and more sustained wave of airstrikes expected in the coming days.

🔗 EGYOSINT

🇱🇦🇰🇭🇻🇳 Despite claims from the Trump Admin that the Hormuz Strait "is open", the energy crisis in Southeast Asia worsens.

Thousands of Laotians and Cambodians are crossing into neighbouring Vietnam to buy gasoline and diesel fuel because its cheaper than in their own countries.

Vietnam imports a lot of its oil from Kuwait, which hasn't been able to export oil in a week and has begun to cut oil production as the oil storages are full.

Vietnamese refineries have enough reserves of oil to refine gasoline and diesel until the end of April 2026, but rationing will come far sooner especially with an influx of customers from Laos and Cambodia on top of the Vietnamese citizenry.

🔗 https://plo.vn/xuat-hien-tinh-trang-nguoi-dan-vung-bien-gioi-campuchia-lao-sang-viet-nam-mua-xang-post898631.html

🇹🇭 Thailand is instructing its government employees to begin working from home and will begin rationing fuel as the Strait of Hormuz remains closed for the 11th Day.

Thailand, like every Southeast Asian country, imports most of its fuel from the Middle East and hasn't been able to in ~two weeks.

🔗 https://archive.ph/BnnAO

🇹🇭🇻🇳🇮🇳🇧🇩 Some Asian LNG buyers are struggling to find prompt cargoes after a war-related outage at the world’s largest export facility in Qatar tightened global supplies of the super-chilled fuel.

Countries including Thailand, Bangladesh, India and Vietnam are dipping into the spot market to safeguard near-term energy security as uncertainty persists over the duration of the US-Israeli war against Iran. But some tenders for this month — like from India’s Gail and GSPC — have gone unawarded, indicating a shortage of immediately available fuel. Thailand’s PTT was seeking a late March-early April cargo but only bought for next month.

While some importers were able to secure liquefied natural gas for March, a few of these cargoes were awarded at high prices. Bangladesh secured two emergency shipments for this month, one at about $28 per million British thermal units — about 2.5 times higher than the January rate — and the other at close to $23/mmbtu, according to a Petrobangla official, who added the move was to avert a domestic energy crisis.

The tight supply also comes at a time when Southeast Asia is expecting hotter weather in the months ahead, potentially raising demand for energy. Buyers in Asia will need to continue competing with each other and Europe for a limited amount of gas.

Global LNG prices have surged as the Middle East conflict continues to roil energy markets. European gas jumped as much as 30% Monday, following a spike in crude oil, before settling about 6% higher. Asian LNG prices have more than doubled since the war broke out on Feb. 28, with traders expecting prices to remain high for as long as it lasts.

🔗 https://archive.ph/SCewh

📈📉 Aluminum is one of the many commodities which saw its price dip after U.S. president Trump's remarks about the war with Iran "being over soon", despite evidence indicating that the U.S. is preparing for a long war.

Before that, aluminum saw an all time high price of 3.544$/ton.

Qatar produces 9% of the global aluminum and hasn't been able to export in 11 days. Production at Qatar's aluminum plant has been shut down out of safety concerns for workers and energy constraints.

🔗 https://archive.ph/NMwa8

🇨🇳 China purchased more crude in the first two months of the year as the country continued to hoard oil to guard against supply disruptions.

The world’s biggest buyer imported 96.93 million tons, a 16% increase from January-February 2025, according to customs data on Tuesday. The surplus is being used to fill commercial and strategic stockpiles that may need to be tapped if the US-Israeli war with Iran continues for any length of time.

Chinese demand helped prop up the global oil market in 2025, despite rising overseas supply and less consumption at home. The accumulated reserves should help cushion the impact of production curbs in the Middle East and a breakdown in trade that sent international prices hurtling toward $120 a barrel on Monday.

China has about 1.4 billion barrels of crude — or 190 million tons — in strategic storage, according to Erica Downs, senior research scholar at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy. Even if all the country’s imports from the Middle East were cut off, those stockpiles could cover the lost supplies for six months, she said.

🔗 https://archive.ph/Q9nxl

🪫 Iran War’s Energy Shock Is Spreading to Crop-Based Fuels

The spike risks crimping output of crop-based fuels and adding to the region’s energy crunch. Indonesia is the world’s biggest producer of palm oil, a large portion of which is converted into biodiesel to meet the country’s steep blending targets. Methanol is key to that process, helping to break down the crop and convert it into fuel.

However, prices for the alcohol have climbed as ship traffic grinds to a near halt amid the US-Israeli attacks in Iran, crimping vital commodity shipments — much of which often head to Asia. QatarEnergy last week said it would halt production of downstream products including methanol after the closure of its massive liquefied natural gas plant.

Methanol prices for delivery to Southeast Asia jumped 24% last week to $402 a ton, the biggest gain since 2007, data from analytics firm Polymer Update shows. If the disruption continues, inventories in Indonesia could run low and biofuel production may fall short of the government’s monthly quotas as soon as April, according to traders familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified.

That threatens further tightening energy supplies in the region, which is highly dependent on imports and has been hit by the sharp slowdowns in oil and gas shipments. Biofuels have historically been seen as a way to combat that reliance and produce more energy at home. Vegetable oil prices have climbed since the war’s outbreak, with palm oil briefly surging as much as 10% on Monday.

🔗 https://archive.ph/zylON