The non-renewable resource, crude oil, plays a vital role in the global economy as the primary source of energy production. It also serves as a key raw material for products like gasoline, diesel, and plastics.
Crude oil is actually the most traded commodity in the world by volume and economic value.
The fuel source, which needs to be refined before it can be used, is greatly influenced by supply-demand principles and geopolitical factors.
Its multi-trillion-dollar industry operates through a global supply chain that spans discovery, extraction, shipping, transportation, order, and inventory management. Import and export facilities and distribution of refined products are other important elements of this supply chain.
Beneath this complex supply chain, a few key emerging trends are changing the oil and gas landscape. For instance, the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) recently forecasted that Brent crude will fall to an average of $54 per barrel next year.
Oil prices have been falling over the last three years, currently sitting around $63.75 per barrel, down from the high of almost $115 per barrel in June 2022. Brent has mostly hovered in the $60–70/bbl range throughout this year, in contrast to the volatility seen earlier in the decade.
The price of crude is now slowly making its way towards the 2020 low below $25.
While five years ago, the COVID-19 pandemic was responsible for the sharp fall in prices, this time around, global supply growth outpacing demand is the primary contributor to the oil price's descent.
Just last month, the EIA said in its short-term energy outlook report that US oil production is projected to set a record, despite the global supply already surpassing the fuel demand. As per the Department of Energy's statistical arm, US oil output is expected to average 13.59 million barrels per day this year.
At the same time, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is also focused on increasing its output.
The global output of crude oil and liquid fuels is projected to average 106 million bpd this year, against a forecast global consumption of 104.1 million bpd. As for global crude oil stocks, they will increase by 52 million barrels to 2.93 billion barrels in the fourth quarter.
This fast-growing global oil production and inventory, while demand growth has been slow, will pressure crude oil prices. According to a recent report by World Bank analysts, the glut is a key factor pushing down crude prices.
Even sanctions on Russia, which have had an unintended effect, are adding to this pressure.
Chinese and Indian oil refinery companies, which continued buying crude from the world's largest country despite sanctions, doubled down on Russian crude imports after major oil suppliers like Aramco, Vitol, and Glencore cut their supply to the two Asian nations. As a result, those major oil suppliers are now scrambling to reroute their cargoes, further leading to lower prices.
Together, these dynamics are setting the stage for the next phase of the oil and gas sector.
According to Deloitte's 2026 Oil and Gas Industry Outlook, energy companies will have to focus on resilience, with the developers required to stay agile amid oversupply, rising costs, and complex global deals.
Digital transformation is another key trend, mentioned by Deloitte, which states that scaling digital platforms will drive operational excellence and efficiency. While advanced technologies like gen AI, agentic AI, and real-time analytics have already begun to transform enterprise operations, they could now move from pilots to full-scale deployment, it added.
The oil and gas sector, Deloitte stated in the report, "faces a pivotal moment as global trends, policy shifts, and rapid technological change create both challenges and opportunities."
Leveraging the current fragmented, complex, and distressed landscape as an opportunity, Litro is helping the world's most essential commodity enter the digital age by putting it on-chain.
What Litro is doing is tokenizing crude oil, a process that starts by onboarding oil producers who pledge their verified and independently audited crude oil reserves into the custody of its Index Exchange, a platform that mints LITRO tokens at a rate of 1 LITRO Token per 1 litre of crude oil equivalent, indexed to Brent/WTI benchmarks.
Tokenizing the barrels allows suppliers to sell fractional claims while traders, refiners, or financial buyers can purchase exposure without waiting for logistics.
For redemption, the Index Exchange has been integrated with the Smart Logistics Routing System (SLRS), which is an AI-driven platform that automates the entire physical crude oil redemption process, from token redemption to barrel delivery.
LITRO tokens can also be traded, financed, and collateralized on Index Exchange, offering instant liquidity, guaranteed quality and provenance, reduced costs, enhanced transparency, operational efficiency, reduced counterparty risk, data-driven assessment, and yield generation.
So, as the global energy system undergoes one of its most transformative periods, the need for transparency, efficiency, and resilience has never been greater. And Litro's approach of bringing crude oil on-chain and enabling real-time liquidity, verification, and financial flexibility represents a structural reimagining of how the world's most vital commodity can be owned, traded, and valued.
In a market defined by oversupply, volatility, and accelerating digital change, Litro is turning crude oil into a global financial asset that can flow freely and transparently.
With Litro, the future of energy is becoming more accessible and powerful than ever!
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