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…

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,…

India has once again kicked the can down the road on its biggest oil and gas licensing round, extending the deadline for bids under OALP-X to February 18. It is the fourth extension since the round was launched with much fanfare during India Energy Week in February, and it says a lot about the gap between ambition and investor appetite. OALP-X is not a small offering quietly tucked away in some dark corner of the upstream segment. It is the largest acreage round India has ever put on the table under its Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy,…

India has once again kicked the can down the road on its biggest oil and gas licensing round, extending the deadline for bids under OALP-X to February 18. It is the fourth extension since the round was launched with much fanfare during India Energy Week in February, and it says a lot about the gap between ambition and investor appetite. OALP-X is not a small offering quietly tucked away in some dark corner of the upstream segment. It is the largest acreage round India has ever put on the table under its Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy,…

Oil markets are focused on Venezuela tensions and the suspension of crude oil loadings at Kazakhstan's CPC terminal. Venezuela Starts Cutting Production as Trump Ratchets Up His Strangling Strategy - Donald Trump’s maximum pressure strategy on Venezuela is finally starting to impact Venezuela’s oil production, with state oil company PDVSA beginning to shut down wells in the Orinoco Belt amidst swelling inventories and ongoing tanker seizures. - Venezuela’s oil production has been continuously growing in 2025, with…

Crude oil exports from the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) terminal on Russia’s Black Sea coast have been suspended due to adverse weather, the consortium said on Tuesday, as transshipment and loadings of oil from Kazakhstan face another setback. Adverse weather conditions in the CPC MT operation area forced the consortium on Monday to suspend oil transshipment until weather improves and storm warnings are lifted, CPC said in a statement on Tuesday. The terminal halted accepting oil on Monday, too, due to insufficient storage space. “It…

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov claimed Ukraine targeted one of President Vladimir Putin's residences and said Moscow will retaliate and review its stance in negotiations seeking an end to its ongoing full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the claim that Kyiv targeted the residence in the Novgorod region northwest of Moscow a "lie." He asserted that Russia was seeking to undermine US-Ukraine talks on the war and "preparing the ground to carry out strikes -- most likely on the [Ukrainian] capital and…

Saudi Aramco is poised to buy a 20% stake in a new refinery that India’s state-owned refiner Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) plans to build with a total investment of about $11 billion, Indian news outlet Business Standard reports.  BPCL plans to have the refinery built at the Ramayapatnam port in the state of Andhra Pradesh on the east coast of southern India. The refinery is planned to have a processing capacity of between 180,000 and 240,000 barrels per day (bpd).   The Indian company, which is the country’s…

The Permian Basin is the largest contributor to U.S. oil production, accounting for nearly half of total production in both 2024 and 2025. But success comes at a price, and in the Permian’s case, the price is huge amounts of wastewater—and the industry is running out of places to store it. Hydraulic fracturing, which is the dominant way of extracting oil in the Permian, is a water-intensive process. Fracking involves injecting chemicals and sand into the horizontal well to open up the oil-bearing rock and keep it open. The longer the…

The U.S. blockade of Venezuela to prevent sanctioned tankers from shipping oil to and from the South American country is not the only geopolitical game involving the United States in its backyard in the Western Hemisphere.  U.S. lawmakers are not happy with Mexico sending fuel shipments to Cuba. Power outages and massive blackouts have become more frequent on the Communist-run island since shipments from sanctioned Venezuela dwindled and left Cuba’s petroleum-dependent power system at the mercy of alternative supplies.   Some…

Saudi Arabia’s recent agreements with the Syrian Petroleum Company to help revive and develop Syria’s long-neglected oil and gas fields are not a benevolent Gulf gesture but the latest step in a carefully sequenced post-Assad strategy shaped in Washington and London. The removal of Bashar al-Assad last December -- driven as much by Syria’s pivotal geography and Mediterranean frontage as by the desire of the new U.S. administration to demonstrate its willingness to unseat entrenched autocrats -- created a vacuum that Western planners…

Türkiye’s state-run energy champion Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO) is on track to dramatically scale up production, with daily oil and gas output expected to reach around 500,000 barrels by 2028, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said this week. Speaking to local media, Bayraktar said the projection is based on current reserves and ongoing developments, but stressed that Ankara’s longer-term ambition is even larger. The government ultimately wants TPAO to become a one-million-barrel-per-day producer,…

Rare earth elements (REEs) are the backbone of modern technology, from EV motors and wind turbines to smartphones and precision-guided systems. This map, via Visual Capitalist's Bruno Venditti, breaks down where the world’s known rare earth reserves are located in 2025, highlighting how concentrated they are across a handful of countries. The data for this visualization comes from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The distribution is highly uneven. China alone holds nearly half of the global total, followed by Brazil’s…

Chevron has unloaded Venezuelan crude oil at U.S. ports under its existing Treasury licence, according to a Bloomberg report on Monday, even as U.S. enforcement actions disrupt other Venezuelan export routes and tighten pressure on unauthorised shipments. Bloomberg did not disclose the number of cargoes involved or the timing of the deliveries. The arrivals come as Washington steps up interdictions targeting Venezuelan oil flows outside approved channels, drawing a clear distinction between Chevron’s licensed operations and exports handled…

West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil prices were up 2.5% in Monday trading at 2:42 p.m. ET, reaching $58.17, as tensions flared in Yemen and hopes for a peace deal on the Russia-Ukraine front dissipated following unsuccessful talks between Kyiv and Washington.  In Yemen, the Saudi-led coalition has vowed to retaliate against any military ‌moves by the main southern separatist group backed by the UAE, the Saudi state news agency reported on Saturday. Last week, an escalation of fighting killed two people from the separatist group. Meanwhile,…

2025 was the year artificial intelligence (AI) took the driver’s seat, literally. Not just in boardrooms or on trading floors, but increasingly on the tarmac, in showrooms, and behind the wheel itself. From record-breaking EV sales in the UK and Europe to autonomous taxis navigating San Francisco streets and preparing to arrive in London next year, the automotive world shifted into a new era. The technology set the pace, but human decisions in policy, investment, and adoption alike determined whether the ride would be smooth or bumpy. Britain…