U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell has been hospitalized since June 14 and held calls with Senate Republican leadership on Monday and Tuesday this week. Markets are watching whether he can return to the Senate before year-end.

The International Energy Agency on July 7 said global natural gas consumption is projected to fall 0.5% this year—about 20 billion cubic meters—citing reduced Middle East supply and price-driven demand suppression. The IEA said the US–Iran conflict has sharply curtailed LNG shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, a route that previously handled roughly 20% of global LNG flows.

Five sources said Saudi Arabia is weighing an expansion of its east–west pipeline to the Red Sea west coast to enable Saudi and neighboring crude shipments without transiting the Strait of Hormuz. The pipeline, built in the early 1980s, can deliver up to 7.0 mln bpd to Yanbu; Aramco told investors in May roughly 2.0 mln bpd supplies west‑coast refineries and about 5.0 mln bpd is for export. Sources said Riyadh has held preliminary talks with some neighbours on boosting capacity by about 1.0–2.0 mln bpd, and that plans may include a smaller products line. It is unclear whether expansion would be an upgrade or a newbuild. One source said the project would take several years, cost billions of dollars and could require adjustments to Saudi crude pricing mechanisms.