° U.S. President Donald Trump takes a question as he speaks during a press conference at Trump National Doral Miami in Miami, Florida, U.S., March 9, 2026.Kevin Lamarque | Reuters

President Donald Trump said that the U.S. will get its first oil refinery in 50 years, funded by investments from Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries.

“THIS IS A HISTORIC $300 BILLION DOLLAR DEAL — THE BIGGEST IN U.S. HISTORY,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social, on Tuesday.

He thanked India’s largest privately held energy company, Reliance Industries, “for this tremendous Investment.”

Reliance owns the world’s largest oil refinery in Jamnagar, India, and has a market capitalization of $206 billion, according to LSEG data.

The new refinery, located at the port of Brownsville in Texas, will “strengthen our National Security, boost American Energy production, deliver Billions of Dollars in Economic impact, and will be THE CLEANEST REFINERY IN THE WORLD,” Trump said.

The refinery is designed to process 100% American shale oil and is being developed by America First Refining.

Source: CNBC

° An oil tanker unloads crude oil at a terminal at the port in Qingdao, in China’s eastern Shandong province on March 10, 2026. (Photo by CN-STR / AFP) / China OUT / CHINA OUT

G7 Energy Ministers met today, at the International Energy Agency (IEA) headquarters in Paris and discussed the situation in global oil and gas markets, which have been significantly affected by the conflict in the Middle East.

Following the assessment of the crisis, they want to make emergency stocks of their oil reserves available to the global market in order to ease the supply disruptions.

IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol , disclosed this in a statement after the meeting .

IEA member countries currently hold over 1.2 billion barrels of public emergency oil stocks, with a further 600 million barrels of industry stocks held under government mandates.

About 100 million barrels of oil are consumed globally every day.

The Paris-based IEA was created to coordinate responses to major supply disruptions after the 1973 oil crisis.

“In oil markets, conditions have deteriorated in recent days. In addition to the challenges of transit through the Strait of Hormuz, a substantial amount of oil production has been curtailed. This is creating significant and growing risks for the market,” he said.

“I have convened an extraordinary meeting of IEA member governments, which will take place later today to assess the current security of supply and market conditions to inform a subsequent decision on whether to ,” Birol added.

He said the G7 meeting addressed “all the available options, including making IEA emergency oil stocks available to the market”.

Italy’s Environment and Energy Minister Gilberto Pichetto Fratin said that regarding the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, “countries have committed to showing solidarity by using stockpiled reserves in order to compensate for the lack of availability at the global level.”

Crude prices have seen sharp fluctuations due to supply disruptions, jumping 30 percent on Monday to nearly $120 per barrel before retreating later that day.

They fell further on Tuesday, reassured by US President Donald Trump stating Monday that the US-Israel war on Iran was “going to be ended soon”.

Nevertheless risks remain, with Iran vowing earlier Tuesday that not one litre of oil would be exported from the Gulf while the United States and Israel press ahead with their bombardment of the country.

• Photo : People hold placards with an image of Iran’s new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei in Tehran. Majid Asgaripour/WANA via REUTERS.

Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei 56, a Shi’ite cleric with a power base among the security forces and their vast business empire, has been declared the new Supreme Leader of Iran.

Iranian state media reports on Monday that large crowds in several cities rally behind the new leader, waving Iranian flags and holding portraits of his father Ali Khamenei, killed by strikes on the war’s first day.

In Isfahan, state TV reported the sound of nearby explosions from apparent airstrikes as loyalists gathered in the historic Imam Square, chanting “God is the Greatest”

In Tehran, a eulogist could be heard singing: “Either death or Khamenei, our blood leads to paradise.”

Politicians and institutions issued pledges of loyalty to the new supreme leader, whose wife, son and mother also died at the start of the U.S.-Israeli air onslaught according to Iranian state media.

“We will obey the commander-in-chief until the last drop ⁠of our blood,” a defence council statement said.

Iranians reached by telephone were divided, with supporters of the authorities hailing the choice as a declaration of defiance and opponents fearful it would dash their hopes for change.

“I am so happy that he is our new leader. It was a slap in the face to our enemies that thought the system will collapse with the killing of his father. Our late leader’s path will continue,” said university student Zahra Mirbagheri, 21, from Tehran.