Climate & Energy · Friday, 18 September 2026

01 Briefing what happened

Drones have shut Saudi Arabia's oil pipeline around Hormuz and cut output at half of Russia's biggest diesel refineries

Climate & Energy 29 sources

Three pumping stations on the pipeline that carried 4-5% of the world's oil are damaged, and Ukrainian strikes have closed or slowed three of Russia's six top diesel plants. The shortage has moved from crude oil to the fuels made from it.

3 of 11

pumping stations on Saudi Arabia's East-West pipeline were damaged

the line had carried 4% to 5% of the world's oil for six months [1]

3 of 6

of Russia's top diesel refineries cut output or stopped in September

those six make about half of Russia's diesel [6]

4 ships

crossed the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday

the ten-day average was 18 [3]

a gallon for diesel in the US, passed for the first time

trucks, trains, ships and farm machines all run on it [6]

The lead story — what happened

Saudi Arabia shut its East-West pipeline on Friday 11 September after a drone attack that Saudi officials say came from Iraq. [1]
The pipeline runs 1,200km across Arabia to the Red Sea. For six months it has been the main way Gulf oil reached buyers while the Strait of Hormuz, the sea lane out of the Gulf, stayed largely shut by the war. [1]
It had been moving 4 to 5 million barrels a day, about 4% to 5% of all the oil the world uses. [1]
A Reuters study of satellite pictures found three of its 11 pumping stations damaged, one more than first reported. [1]
Three industry sources say repairs could take five to six weeks. [1] The US energy secretary, Chris Wright, said the outage would be measured in days. [2]
Only four ships crossed the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, against a ten-day average of 18. [3] Before the war, the strait carried a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied gas. [3]
Iraq's government says the drones were launched from its territory, and it dismissed a military commander in its southern Maysan province. [29][4] US President Donald Trump said Iran was probably responsible. [5]
In Russia, three of the six refineries that make about half the country's diesel have cut output sharply or stopped after Ukrainian drone strikes. [6] The Kirishi refinery is shut, and two others run at about a quarter of normal. [6]
On 17 September a drone attack halted the Yaroslavl refinery, 250km north-east of Moscow, by damaging the unit that handles about 40% of its crude. [7]
The International Energy Agency (IEA), which advises rich countries on energy, says a Russian refinery was hit on average every three days in the first eight months of 2026. [6] Russia has limited its exports of petrol, diesel and jet fuel. [6]
Diesel in the US passed $6 a gallon for the first time on 10 September. [6] Across the EU, diesel costs 38% more than a year ago and jet fuel more than twice as much. [11]
The IEA expects world oil supply to fall 5.7 million barrels a day this year, about 6%. [8] Diesel is at record prices because refineries in Russia and the Middle East are damaged. [8]
The US sells more energy than it buys and still has record diesel prices, because what is short now is refining, not crude, the Financial Times notes. [10]

Who is involved

Saudi Aramco

Saudi Arabia's state oil company; it runs the East-West pipeline and did not answer Reuters' questions about the damage [1]
Ukraine's government

hit regularly by Russian attacks on its own energy plants; it says Russian refineries are fair military targets [6]
Chris Wright

the US energy secretary; he says the Saudi pipeline will be back within days [2]
The International Energy Agency

the energy adviser to rich countries; it counts the supply lost to the two wars [8]

How it unfolded

Late Feb The US-Israeli war on Iran begins and traffic through Hormuz collapses [11][1]
28 Aug A drone strike damages one of Yaroslavl refinery's three crude units [7]
11 Sep Saudi Arabia shuts the East-West pipeline after drone attacks from Iraq [1]
15 Sep Four ships cross Hormuz; Reuters finds half of Russia's top diesel plants hit [3][6]
17 Sep Yaroslavl stops refining; a third damaged Saudi pumping station is found [7][1]

Where this points

Watch whether the Saudi pipeline pumps again within days, as the US energy secretary says, or takes the five to six weeks industry sources estimate. [2][1]

What is pushing on the whole day

The bar and the word are our reading of how hard each one is pushing today. The arrow is where it is heading. The evidence is in the stories below.

Fuel bills climbing High↑

Countries that import fuel have paid about $330 billion more than was expected before the war. [13] Chile stopped fully holding down pump prices in March because it was draining public money. [14] Petrol in the EU costs 24% more than a year ago. [11]

Help for oil and gas firms Building↑

A US House committee took up a bill to block climate lawsuits against oil, gas and coal companies. [15] The full House voted to cancel California's rule making docked ships plug into the grid. [16] Canada widened a tax break to cover new oil and gas pipelines. [28]

Data centres wanting power Building↑

BloombergNEF, an energy research firm, expects US data centres to burn 15 billion more cubic feet of gas a day by 2035. [21] Meta signed to buy power from a new solar farm in Texas. [23] More than half of Americans now worry about AI's effect on the environment. [22]

Warm seas feeding trouble High↑

Scientists say a warmer Mediterranean makes autumn storms like this week's Barcelona floods heavier. [17] Warm water helped an algae bloom block five of Israel's six big seawater-to-drinking-water plants. [18] Ocean scientists want emergency steps to protect sea life during the strongest El Nino on record. [19]

The rest of the day

18 more stories on this beat.

Each with its own sources. None of these is a link to the story above.

02
Exxon expects more carbon in 2050

ExxonMobil, one of the world's largest oil and gas companies, published its yearly energy outlook on 17 September. [12] It now expects energy to release 30 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide a year in 2050, up from the 27 billion it forecast last year. [12] A United Nations body says about 11 billion tonnes is the level needed to limit warming. [12] Exxon says its figure points to 2.5 to 3 degrees Celsius of warming. [12]

Why it matters — Exxon now expects coal to fade more slowly, from 25% of the world's energy to 15% by 2050, because China and other Asian countries see it as key to a secure energy supply. [12] The outlook guides Exxon's own investment, and it leaves out the Iran war because Exxon says it is too early to judge. [12]
03
The war pushed 33 governments to act

Thirty-three governments have adopted policies to use less oil and gas since the war on Iran began, the IEA counted as of 9 September. [13] They include help for electric cars and heat pumps, and electric stoves in India and Indonesia to replace imported cooking gas. [13] World greenhouse gas emissions still grew 0.2% in the first half of 2026, says Climate TRACE, a group that tracks emissions. [13] Investment in wind and solar fell over the same months, mostly because of a drop in China. [13]

Why it matters — Countries that import fuel have paid about $330 billion more than was expected before the war, the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air estimates. [13] Power stations gave off less carbon even so, while emissions from road transport grew. [13]
04
Europe's gas stores are 69% full

Europe's gas storage sites are 69% full, against an average of 85% for this time of year over the last five years, the industry body Gas Infrastructure Europe says. [11] Germany and the Netherlands, which hold 35% of the EU's storage space, are furthest behind. [11] Companies held off buying, betting the war would end quickly and prices would fall. [11] Governments did not enforce their own storage targets. [11]

Why it matters — The European gas price is 81 euros per megawatt hour, 150% higher than a year ago. [11] An expert at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies said even a normal winter could leave storage heavily drained. [11]
05
A US bill to block climate lawsuits

A committee of the US House of Representatives was due to debate and vote on 16 September on the Stop Climate Shakedowns Act, from Wyoming Republican Harriet Hageman. [15] It would stop damages suits against companies that mine, refine, move or sell energy. [15] It says linking their emissions to disasters lacks scientific credibility, a claim decades of research contradict, Inside Climate News reports. [15] Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and three other Republicans have a matching Senate bill. [15]

Why it matters — Eleven US states, Washington DC and dozens of cities and counties have sued oil companies for deceiving the public about climate change. [15] The US Supreme Court hears one of those suits, Boulder County in Colorado against Suncor and ExxonMobil, on 5 October. [15]
06
US data centres could out-burn most countries

Gas burned to power US data centres will grow by 15 billion cubic feet a day in the ten years to 2035, BloombergNEF says. [21] That is more gas than any country uses today except China, Russia, Iran and the US itself. [21] It is more than double the 6.9 billion cubic feet BloombergNEF forecast in December. [21] The new figure already assumes many planned projects are never built. [21]

Why it matters — Data centres are the warehouses of computers that run AI and online services, and gas is now the fuel being planned for them. [21] The forecast more than doubled in nine months. [21]
07
Floods hit Barcelona and Valencia

Torrential rain and flash floods hit north-eastern Spain this week. [17] A man died west of Barcelona when a stream swept away his car. [17] Spain's weather agency put Barcelona's coast on red alert, and parts of Valencia had more than 70mm of rain in half an hour. [17] Valencia suspended every metro line and closed its airport for several hours. [17]

Why it matters — The storm follows Spain's hottest summer on record, and scientists say a warmer Mediterranean gives off more water and so feeds heavier rain. [17] Floods in Valencia killed more than 230 people less than two years ago. [17]
08
Algae shut Israel's drinking-water plants

A bloom of tiny algae that grew to 100km long clogged the filters of five of Israel's six big desalination plants, which turn seawater into drinking water. [18] The six make more than 60% of Israel's drinking water. [18] They are running again, but only at up to half their capacity, and the algae is still there after almost three weeks. [18] Experts think it came from the Nile Delta and spread in warmer-than-normal water. [18]

Why it matters — Some researchers suggest sewage from Gaza's destroyed treatment plants fed the bloom, though one called it early days. [18] Mekorot, Israel's national water company, says 99% of households had no shortage. [18] Doctors Without Borders reports that Israeli bombing has destroyed 90% of Gaza's water and sanitation system. [18]
09
The US House votes against California's ship rules

The US House of Representatives voted 216 to 211 on 15 September to cancel California's permission to enforce its clean-ship rules. [16] The rules make big ships docked at Los Angeles, Long Beach and Richmond switch off their diesel engines and plug into the power grid. [16] Where that is impossible, dock operators must catch nearly all the exhaust. [16] California may set stricter pollution rules only with permission from the US environment agency. [16]

Why it matters — Docked ships run diesel engines around the clock, and the soot and cancer-causing chemicals drift into the neighbourhoods beside the ports. [16] Congress and President Trump already blocked California's ban on new petrol car sales from 2035. [16]
10
Scientists ask for emergency help for sea life

Ocean scientists, among them Michael Meredith of the British Antarctic Survey, have called for emergency action to protect sea life. [19] They warn that the strongest El Nino ever recorded, a natural swing that warms the Pacific, is heating the ocean to levels never seen before. [19] Their ideas include cutting fishing quotas, taking endangered species out of the water, and testing geoengineering, which means deliberately changing nature to cool it. [19]

Why it matters — Their paper is being sent to officials in the UK, the US and other governments. [19] Meredith says the sooner action comes, the better. [19]
11
Chile drafts an ethanol blend

Chile's energy ministry has drafted a plan to mix 10% ethanol, a fuel made from crops, into petrol, according to a memo seen by Reuters. [14] Chile imported 181,000 barrels of crude a day in 2025, and the world oil price has gone from about $73 before the war to over $105. [14] The switch could cut the Chilean government's fuel costs by about $107 million a year. [14] ENAP, the state oil company, would need to spend about $10.8 million to adapt. [14]

Why it matters — Chile lacks the land to grow its own ethanol crops and would import it, mostly from Argentina and Bolivia. [14] Chile's own ministry memo says the move replaces one import dependency with another. [14]
12
The EU asks China to cap hybrid car sales

The European Union has asked China to voluntarily hold its hybrid car sales to about 15% of the EU market, the Financial Times reported on 17 September. [24] Hybrids run on both a battery and a petrol engine. [24] An EU official said that if China will not limit its exports, the EU will. [24] Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the EU's goods trade deficit with China was 360.6 billion euros last year. [24]

Why it matters — The EU says Chinese factories make far more cars, batteries and chemicals than buyers need, and that Europe is losing industry because of it. [24] China calls those complaints protectionism. [24]
13
Stopping forest loss beats replanting

A study in the journal Science compared three ways of protecting the Brazilian Amazon: stopping clearing, stopping fires and logging, and replanting cleared land. [20] Stopping the clearing did the most for stored carbon and gave the best value for money. [20] Stopping fires and logging did the most for wildlife, and replanting did least on both counts. [20] The team used field surveys and satellite pictures along the edge where forest is being cleared. [20]

Why it matters — Only all three together reversed the losses of wildlife and carbon, so replanting still has a job to do. [20] Cleared and burned tropical forests are turning from places that soak up carbon into places that give it off, the paper says. [20]
14
More Americans worry about AI's footprint

53% of Americans are extremely or very concerned about AI's effect on the environment, up from 41% last year, an AP-NORC and University of Chicago poll found. [22] About two-thirds of Democrats say so, against about half of independents and four in ten Republicans. [22] Most new data centres are planned for rural areas, though 87% of today's sit in cities, a Pew analysis found. [22]

Why it matters — Only about three in ten adults are as worried about meat or flying. [22] Most Americans in the poll support limits on new data centres. [22]
15
The EU warns a Chinese-owned miner over nickel

The European Commission, the EU's executive, formally warned MMG, a Hong Kong-listed miner controlled by the Chinese state, over its plan to buy Anglo American's nickel business in Brazil. [25] It fears MMG could send the low-carbon ferronickel, an iron-nickel metal used for stainless steel, to Chinese steelmakers instead of European ones. [25] Anglo American said it was disappointed. [25] MMG says it is willing to guarantee long-term supply to European customers. [25]

Why it matters — The EU says it relies on China for metals it needs for defence, technology and renewable energy. [25] This case uses its competition powers to protect that supply. [25]
16
Canada widens a tax break to pipelines

Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney is widening a major tax write-off to cover oil and gas pipelines, mining property and more, Bloomberg reported. [28] The write-off lets companies deduct the cost of an investment from their taxes faster. [28] Carney announced it on 15 September at an investment summit in Toronto, where dozens of firms met to discuss stakes in Canadian projects. [28]

Why it matters — A faster deduction makes a new pipeline cheaper for its builder in the first years, because the tax saving arrives sooner. [28]
17
Meta buys a new Texas solar farm's power

Meta, the owner of Facebook, agreed to buy the power from a 144-megawatt solar farm Apex Clean Energy is building in Gonzales County, Texas. [23] Meta gets all the renewable credits, the certificates that let a buyer count the power as clean. [23] Apex says the farm would not have been built without Meta's promise to buy. [23] The two companies now have 1.2 gigawatts of projects in five US states. [23]

Why it matters — Meta is spending over $10 billion on a data centre in El Paso, Texas. [23] Apex says the farm starts in 2027, while the Texas grid operator's list says January 2028. [23]
18
A Volkswagen test car goes 1,278km on one charge

Volkswagen drove a test car, the Mission Efficiency, 1,278km from Wolfsburg in Germany to Vienna on one charge, arriving with 164km of range left. [26] A German records body verified three world records, including 6.89 kilowatt-hours per 100km in real driving. [26] The car is built from the parts of VW's new small ID. Polo, with a modest 54.9 kilowatt-hour battery. [26]

Why it matters — Most of the range comes from the car's teardrop shape, not a bigger battery. [26] Above 80km/h it uses more than 30% less energy than a normal ID. Polo, VW says. [26]
19
Iceland plans a bill to end whaling

Iceland's government said earlier this month it will put a bill to parliament in February that could ban whaling for good. [27] Iceland is one of only three countries, with Norway and Japan, that allow commercial whale hunts. [27] Hvalur, its last whaling company, has caught 85 fin whales this season against a quota of 150. [27] Its head, Loftsson, says earlier bills to ban whaling all came to nothing. [27]

Why it matters — Icelanders are split: 41% oppose whaling and a third support it, a June poll found. [27] Fin whales, the second-largest animal on Earth, are listed as vulnerable worldwide but healthy in the North Atlantic. [27]

02 Lesson why it matters

Why the last fuel crisis is costing some countries less this time

Countries that built clean power, gas storage or a fuel of their own after earlier crises are paying less for this one.

The twist

Much of what shields a country in this crisis was built after an earlier one. Countries that built little then are paying the most now.

How it works

A fuel crisis makes imported energy suddenly dear
Governments build something at home in answer: storage, clean power, a fuel of their own
The crisis passes, but what they built stays standing
The next crisis costs less where those things were built, and more where they were not
What was built after a gas crisis may not help in a diesel crisis

The same force, elsewhere today

Where this chain is also running, in today's other stories.

The war pushed 33 governments to act

Countries that built clean power after earlier fuel crises saved about $36 billion on imported fuel in the war's first five months, China and Japan most of all.
Europe's gas stores are 69% full

After Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Europe found new gas sellers and set storage targets, and analysts say that makes this shock less severe than that one.
Chile drafts an ethanol blend

Chile never set up a crop-fuel blend, so each oil price jump hits it in full. It is drafting one only now, while neighbouring Brazil has long run cars on ethanol.

Where you've seen this

Earthquake building codes

a city tightens its rules after a big quake, so the next quake does least damage to the buildings put up since

Bank rules

rules written after one crash make banks hold more money, which softens the next crash

Flood defences

walls built after one flood protect a town next time, unless the next flood comes from a different direction

The catch

The protection fades or misses: Germany and the Netherlands did not enforce their gas storage targets, and the US sells more energy than it buys yet has record diesel prices.

And the whole of it

A family heating a home in Germany this winter depends on choices officials made in 2022, and they never met those officials. What governments decide this year will set someone else's bill in the next crisis, and nobody can yet say where it will hit.

03 Truth what's really going on

What is really going on

Drones from Iraq and from Ukraine are now hitting the pipelines and refineries that turn crude oil into fuel, so the shortage has moved from oil to diesel and jet fuel. The countries paying least are the ones that built clean power, gas storage or their own fuels after earlier crises, while Chile, which never set up a crop-fuel blend, is only now drafting one.

Why it works on us — A repair date like 'within days' from a government minister feels like an answer, so it sticks even when the industry people closest to the damage say five to six weeks.

Who gains

Owners of the biggest oil tankers — Shipping a barrel from the Gulf of Oman to China cost about $11.50 at this month's record rates, because attacks have thinned the ships willing to sail there. [9]
Countries that built clean power after earlier crises — They avoided about $36 billion of fuel imports in the war's first five months, with China and Japan saving the most. [13]
Ethanol makers in Argentina and Bolivia — They already supply most of Chile's ethanol, and a 10% blend would need far more of it. [14]
Oil, gas and coal companies in the US — The Stop Climate Shakedowns Act would give them broad immunity from damages suits over climate disasters. [15]
Ship operators at Los Angeles, Long Beach and Richmond — If the House vote stands, they would no longer have to switch off diesel engines and plug in while docked. [16]

Who pays

People who move goods and grow food in the US — Diesel runs trucks, trains and farm machines, it passed $6 a gallon for the first time, and farms were already in a fourth year of shrinking margins. [6]
Countries that import their fuel — They have paid about $330 billion more than expected before the war, with the EU, China and India paying most. [13]
Italy's public finances — Scrapping road tax on 14.5 million vehicles costs over 2 billion euros, on top of a diesel duty cut that has already cost 2.8 billion. [11]
Neighbourhoods beside three California ports — Docked ships run diesel engines around the clock, and the soot drifts into nearby homes; the House voted to cancel the rule that stops it. [16]
Towns suing oil companies over climate costs — Boulder County's case against Suncor and ExxonMobil, over heat and wildfire costs, reaches the US Supreme Court on 5 October while Congress weighs a ban on such suits. [15]

What nobody knows yet

Open questions from across today’s stories — ours included.

01

How long the Saudi pipeline will stay shut.

The US energy secretary says days. Three industry sources say five to six weeks, and another says partial pumping could start sooner. Saudi Aramco did not answer questions. [2][1]
02

Who ordered the drone attack on the pipeline.

Saudi officials and Iraq's government say the drones came from Iraq. President Trump said Iran was probably responsible. The reports we read name no group that launched them. [1][29][5]
03

How much diesel Russia is really making.

The half-of-six figure is a Reuters calculation from fuel traders' data, not an official number. The damage from Sunday's strike on the Taneco refinery had not yet been assessed. [6]
04

Whether Europe fills its gas stores before winter.

Storage is at 69% against a usual 85%, and the answer depends on the weather. One analyst said even a normal winter could leave the stores heavily drained. [11]
05

Whether the war will end up helping clean energy or fossil fuels.

Thirty-three governments passed policies to use less oil and gas, but world emissions grew 0.2% and clean investment fell. A Princeton professor told AP it is too soon to say. [13]
06

What Exxon's outlook would say with the war counted.

Exxon left the Iran war out of its 2050 forecast because it says it needs a few more years to judge the effects. [12]
07

What caused the algae bloom that shut Israel's water plants.

Experts point to warm water and a current from the Nile Delta. Some suggest sewage from Gaza's destroyed plants, and one of them called it early days. [18]
08

Whether the US liability bill moved.

The House committee was due to vote on 16 September, and the report we read was written before the vote. [15]

04 Hope carry this

Power stations around the world gave off less carbon dioxide in the first half of 2026 than a year before, even with the war driving up the price of gas.

Also true today

Countries that built clean power after earlier fuel crises spent about $36 billion less on imported fuel in the war's first five months, China and Japan most of all.
A Volkswagen test car drove 1,278 kilometres from Wolfsburg to Vienna on one battery charge and arrived with 164 kilometres to spare.
Israel's desalination plants are running again, at up to half their capacity, after algae clogged five of the six, and 99% of homes had no water shortage.