The Van Allen radiation belts are massive, doughnut-shaped regions of charged particles trapped by Earth's magnetic field. When the Sun blasts Earth with strong solar wind or solar storms, energetic particles are injected into these belts, increasing their overall energy levels. Now, the Van Allen radiation belts are "fully charged," according to space weather observer Stefan Burns. He warns that these belts of energetic particles have been building up due to repeated solar storms over the past few months. "The next solar storm to hit could cause…

Two decades into a successful career manufacturing interiors for the world’s leading auto brands, Tomas, a former senior manager with an Italian multinational company, walked away from the car industry in the autumn of 2025. “I think it's doomed,” the Czech man told RFE/RL, explaining the main reason he walked away from the business. “The industry is doomed.” Tomas has asked that his surname not be used in this story. Europe’s storied car industry is under threat from a flood of high-quality Chinese vehicles…

For more than a decade, Silicon Valley’s most powerful companies have stayed private for longer than ever before, buoyed by deep pools of capital and sovereign wealth funding. But, as interest rates remain higher, AI infrastructure costs balloon and some of the world’s largest private firms mature into businesses of national, and increasingly geopolitical, importance, the public markets are creeping back into view. This is not an IPO boom, with executives continuing to insist they are in no rush, and in many cases, they are probably…

Geothermal is one of the few renewable energy sectors that President Donald Trump has not tried to quash in favour of fossil fuels in the United States. There is significant promise for the future of geothermal power in the United States, even though most projects are still in the nascent stage of development. Both public and private funding are expected to bolster the sector in the coming years.  According to the European Commission, geothermal energy is a renewable energy source harnessed from the thermal energy stored in rocks and fluids…

If 2025 taught us anything, it was that energy markets remain governed by fundamentals, not slogans. The year opened with expectations of policy-driven disruption and geopolitical shocks. It closed with supply, demand, and infrastructure constraints doing what they usually do: overruling expectations. Oil prices fell even as global tensions persisted. Electricity demand grew faster than grids could react. And technologies widely assumed to be on borrowed time proved far more durable than many forecasts suggested. Rather than breakthroughs or collapses,…

Following the Nobel Prize for graphene's discovery in 2010, the gee-whiz nanomaterial has been lauded as a "wonder material" with endless theoretical applications, including graphene super batteries, leading to a "sugar rush" of investor excitement and high valuations of graphene makers such as Applied Graphene Materials Plc. (OTCQB:APGMF) and First Graphene Limited (OTCMKTS:FGPHF). Unfortunately, the actual pace of commercial adoption has been much slower than initially anticipated, causing huge market corrections as expectations realigned with…

South Korea’s move to kill coal will almost certainly have repercussions on two of its largest energy customers, Australia and the United States. A decision on the polluting fossil fuel was made at the COP30 climate conference in Brazil, when South Korea’s Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment announced plans to retire most of the country’s coal-fired power plants by 2040, and to at least halve its carbon emissions by 2035. Forty of the plants already have confirmed closure dates. South Korea has been criticized for not…

The energy transition is often sold as a story of ethereal "green" progress, but if you look at the balance sheets of the companies actually building it, the story is written in soot and high-voltage electricity. While the financial press spends its time obsessing over the price of lithium or the latest solid-state battery breakthrough, a much more grounded, and expensive, reality is setting in. We are entering the era of the engineered anode. New data suggests the market for ultra-high-purity (UHP) graphite is on a trajectory to hit $1.43 billion…

Iran's leadership is facing mounting pressure from abroad and emerging dissent from within as street protests over its reeling economy and the threat of a new round of military strikes hang over the country. Demonstrations were reported in several cities, with markets and shops shuttered and students holding rallies at universities, on December 30. This follows two days of demonstrations that saw security forces launch volleys of tear gas to disperse crowds. People were chanting anti-government slogans to protest a sharp weakening of the currency.…

As tech companies worldwide invest heavily in the deployment of large-scale data centres to power advanced technologies, not everyone is so happy about the new phenomenon. Concerns over energy security and a prolonged reliance on fossil fuels are just two of the issues that are repeatedly coming up, as governments seek to better regulate the sector.  In the United States, $64 billion in data centre projects have been blocked or delayed due to growing opposition. A Data Centre Watch report estimates that $18 billion worth of data centre projects…

Argentina, in a surprise development, overtook Colombia to become South America’s fourth-largest oil producer. The country is undergoing a once-in-a-generation unconventional hydrocarbon boom, which began with Buenos Aires nationalizing integrated energy major YPF in 2012. Since then, Argentina’s oil and natural gas output has kept soaring higher, regularly hitting new monthly highs as volumes of shale oil and gas production grow. It is Argentina’s national oil company, YPF, which is at the forefront of the boom with it responsible…

The American Petroleum Institute (API) estimated that crude oil inventories in the United States saw a build of 1.7 million barrels in the week ending December 26. Crude oil inventories rose by 2.4 million barrels in the week prior. Crude oil inventories in the United States are so far showing a net decrease of 5.1 million barrels for the year, according to Oilprice calculations of API data. Earlier this week, the Department of Energy (DoE) reported that crude oil inventories in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) have risen by 200,000 barrels…

The American Petroleum Institute (API) estimated that crude oil inventories in the United States saw a build of 1.7 million barrels in the week ending December 26. Crude oil inventories rose by 2.4 million barrels in the week prior. Crude oil inventories in the United States are so far showing a net decrease of 5.1 million barrels for the year, according to Oilprice calculations of API data. Earlier this week, the Department of Energy (DoE) reported that crude oil inventories in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) have risen by 200,000 barrels…

Several trends emerged in the energy markets in 2025 and are set to continue shaping the global oil, gas, and energy equities markets into 2026. Sure, there will be many wild cards in 2026, especially concerning geopolitics and tensions flaring up from the Caribbean to Yemen. These, while impossible to predict, will also impact global energy markets and investor sentiment.   Of those trends that can be predicted, supply-demand balances in the oil and gas markets, and the challenges and opportunities facing Big Oil and other oil and gas firms,…

For nearly two months, Sayed Wali, a young Afghan truck driver, has watched the sun rise, and the sun set in the fabled Khyber Pass, which connects western Pakistan to eastern Afghanistan. But he's not here for the view. He's stuck. Wali can't even leave his 10-wheel truck and its cargo unattended for fear it could be robbed or ransacked. He was taking a shipment of Afghan imports from Pakistan's southern seaport city of Karachi through some 1,800 kilometers of roads that wind from the Arabian Sea up through to the treacherous Khyber mountains…

Oil tankers are still making their way to Venezuela despite Washington’s naval blockade, a sign that Caracas is leaning harder on floating storage and debt-linked crude shipments even as its export system begins to clog. At least two tankers arrived in Venezuelan waters in recent days, and others are approaching the coast, according to Reuters calculations and data from TankerTrackers.com. The arrivals come as U.S. enforcement has cut Venezuela’s oil exports roughly in half from November levels, seized two cargoes, and pushed many shipowners…

The latest flare-up between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates over Yemen looks dramatic on the surface, but OPEC cohesion, not missiles or militias, is what ultimately matters to the oil markets, which is why the latest public spat between Saudi Arabia and the UAE over Yemen created just a temporary blip in crude prices. Saudi forces intercepted this week what they said was an unauthorized UAE-linked shipment of weapons and military equipment destined for southern Yemen. The Saudi-led coalition dished out an airstrike on the southern Yemeni…

The latest flare-up between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates over Yemen looks dramatic on the surface, but OPEC cohesion, not missiles or militias, is what ultimately matters to the oil markets, which is why the latest public spat between Saudi Arabia and the UAE over Yemen created just a temporary blip in crude prices. Saudi forces intercepted this week what they said was an unauthorized UAE-linked shipment of weapons and military equipment destined for southern Yemen. The Saudi-led coalition dished out an airstrike on the southern Yemeni…

The latest flare-up between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates over Yemen looks dramatic on the surface, but OPEC cohesion, not missiles or militias, is what ultimately matters to the oil markets, which is why the latest public spat between Saudi Arabia and the UAE over Yemen created just a temporary blip in crude prices. Saudi forces intercepted this week what they said was an unauthorized UAE-linked shipment of weapons and military equipment destined for southern Yemen. The Saudi-led coalition dished out an airstrike on the southern Yemeni…

Russia’s pipeline gas exports to Europe collapsed by 44% in 2025, falling to their lowest level since the mid-1970s, according to Reuters calculations. The drop marks the clearest statistical endpoint yet for what was once Moscow’s most lucrative and politically potent energy relationship. The decline was driven primarily by the closure of the Ukrainian transit route at the start of the year, leaving TurkStream as the only remaining pipeline corridor for Russian gas into Europe. Even that route now serves a shrinking group of buyers,…