The American Petroleum Institute (API) estimated that crude oil inventories in the United States increased by a whopping 13.4 million barrels in the week ending February 6, and more than offsetting the prior week’s draw of 11.1 million barrels. Inventories in the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) keep climbing week after week. The Department of Energy (DoE) reported that crude oil inventories stayed the same at 415.2 million barrels in the week ending February 6. This is 310.3 million barrels shy of maximum capacity. US production fell…

Argentina is home to an enormous wealth of critical natural resources that are becoming increasingly in demand as the global energy transition continues to pick up pace. But while Argentina’s potential geopolitical advantages open new avenues for economic growth, they also come with major potential trade-offs for energy sovereignty as the world’s superpowers intensely pursue the nation’s riches of lithium and uranium. Argentina’s economy is finally on an upswing after decades of painful decline. This change is in large part…

To help navigate the uncertainty, we have framed five possible scenarios, detailed below, that outline plausible pathways, from diplomatic normalization to severe destabilization, and assess their consequences for geopolitics and global oil markets. Only a week ago, the balance of risks appeared tilted towards military action. More recently, intensified diplomatic engagement and signalling from both Washington and Tehran have shifted expectations toward a less confrontational path. That said, developments can unfold quickly, and the probability…

The U.S. shale revolution is widely considered one of the most significant energy, economic, and industrial transformations in American history. By combining horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing (fracking) to unlock massive oil and gas reserves from shale rock, the energy revolution reversed decades of declining production, transformed the U.S. into the world's top oil and natural gas producer and a net exporter of oil while reshaping global energy markets. The U.S. shale revolution more than doubled total U.S. petroleum and other liquids…

US Vice President JD Vance kicked off a three-day visit to Armenia and Azerbaijan with an evening meeting with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. They concluded their discussions with a signing ceremony covering an agreement on peaceful nuclear cooperation. A statement issued by the Armenian Foreign Ministry prior to the meeting had hinted a signing ceremony was in the offing, saying Vance’s visit will include “events that will deepen relations with Washington and open new areas of cooperation.” Pashinyan said the agreement…

A record 9.5 billion passenger trips are expected during this year’s Chinese New Year or Spring Festival travel surge, according to the National Development and Reform Commission. The 40 day period between February 2 and March 13 is expected to see record highs in terms of passenger volumes for both rail trips (exceeding 540 million passengers) and civil aviation trips (exceeding 95 million passengers). However, as Statista's Katharina Buchholz reports, despite rail and air travel for the Chinese New Year gaining popularity, travel by road…

Norway likes to talk a big game about energy transition, but Equinor is busy reminding everyone that oil and gas are still paying the bills. The Norwegian major plans to sharply increase its international oil and gas production by 2030, pushing overseas output above 900,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd), up from roughly 730,000 boepd in 2025, Equinor’s head of foreign operations told Reuters this week. That is a more than 20% jump at a time when many European peers are doing their best to sound apologetic about hydrocarbons. The…

India has seized three oil tankers involved in oil smuggling in what is believed to be the country’s first move against the growing shadow fleet of tankers.   The Indian Coast Guard has said that it busted on February 6 “an international oil-smuggling racket” in a land and sea operation. “The syndicate exploited mid-sea transfers in international waters to move cheap oil from conflict-ridden regions to motor tankers, evading duties owed to coastal states,” the Coast Guard added. The authorities intercepted three…

India’s coal demand could more than double by 2050 from current levels under current policies, a new report by NITI Aayog, the policy think tank of the Indian government, showed on Tuesday. Under the Current Policy Scenario (CPS), coal demand in India is forecast to rise even through 2070, according to the projections. In this scenario, long-term demand could more than double to 2.615 billion tons by 2050, up from 1.256 billion tons in 2025, the think tank’s analysis found. If India keeps the current policies, coal demand will be higher…

India’s coal demand could more than double by 2050 from current levels under current policies, a new report by NITI Aayog, the policy think tank of the Indian government, showed on Tuesday. Under the Current Policy Scenario (CPS), coal demand in India is forecast to rise even through 2070, according to the projections. In this scenario, long-term demand could more than double to 2.615 billion tons by 2050, up from 1.256 billion tons in 2025, the think tank’s analysis found. If India keeps the current policies, coal demand will be higher…

India’s coal demand could more than double by 2050 from current levels under current policies, a new report by NITI Aayog, the policy think tank of the Indian government, showed on Tuesday. Under the Current Policy Scenario (CPS), coal demand in India is forecast to rise even through 2070, according to the projections. In this scenario, long-term demand could more than double to 2.615 billion tons by 2050, up from 1.256 billion tons in 2025, the think tank’s analysis found. If India keeps the current policies, coal demand will be higher…

Rising U.S.–Iran tensions, and new U.S. maritime guidance are pushing oil higher as traders reassess geopolitical risk. Are Oil Majors Running Out of Reserves?- Shell’s disappointing 2025 results continue to create ripples across oil markets as the London-based energy major now only wields proven reserves of 8.1 billion barrels of oil equivalent, less than 8 years of its current production.- Shell is now facing a 200,000 boe/d production gap by 2030, despite its corporate policy pledging to grow total hydrocarbon output by 1% annually…

China’s LNG imports are set to rebound this year, rising by between 3% and 10% from 2025, driven by lower prices that are expected with the new supply wave, analysts have told Reuters. Purchases from China, the world’s top LNG importer, are set to total between 70.5 million and 75.5 million metric tons this year, which would be a 3-10% increase compared to 2025, analysts at several energy intelligence firms told Reuters. Last year saw a rare 10% drop in China’s imports. LNG demand softened considerably in 2025 as Chinese natural…

China’s LNG imports are set to rebound this year, rising by between 3% and 10% from 2025, driven by lower prices that are expected with the new supply wave, analysts have told Reuters. Purchases from China, the world’s top LNG importer, are set to total between 70.5 million and 75.5 million metric tons this year, which would be a 3-10% increase compared to 2025, analysts at several energy intelligence firms told Reuters. Last year saw a rare 10% drop in China’s imports. LNG demand softened considerably in 2025 as Chinese natural…

The rapid collapse of Venezuela’s oil industry triggered one of the world’s worst environmental disasters. This is exacerbated by Caracas’ drill at any cost mentality and strict U.S. sanctions, which amplified the intensity of the ecological catastrophe unfolding in the near-failed state. There are immense volumes of petroleum waste scattered across many sites, where it is leaching into the soil, waterways, and wetlands. With President Trump eagerly pushing U.S. drillers to invest the tens of billions of dollars required to rebuild…

Big Tech plans to spend hundreds of billions on AI this year, the industry leaders said this earnings season. In response, a stock sell-off followed as traders grew wary of the whole AI story. Looking for something safer, they went into energy stocks. Big Oil stocks, to be precise. Last week saw a sharp drop in Big Tech stocks as traders sold off their holdings on fears that artificial intelligence was about to replace software. NVIDIA’s CEO Jensen Huang dismissed those fears, saying, “There's this notion that the tool industry is in…

Trading volume and open interest on China’s metals exchanges soared to record highs in January, fueled by retail investors flocking to what they believe are the next market winners—precious and industrial metals. So many bullish positions were open at the start of the year that the first negative signals sent global metals markets crashing from record highs and whipsawing in violent swings. At the end of 2025 and the start of 2026, speculators held record-high open interest in the base metals copper, zinc, nickel, tin, lead, and aluminum…

At first glance, Denmark’s flagship carbon capture and storage tender looks like a disappointment. A €4 billion subsidy scheme designed to catalyse a competitive CCS market ended with just one remaining bidder. Nine out of ten pre-qualified applicants walked away. Targets will not be fully met. Headlines quickly followed, framing the outcome as a failure. That interpretation is understandable. It is also incomplete. What happened in Denmark is less a policy collapse than a reality check. The tender exposed the gap between political ambition…

We are starting to see the beginnings of deglobalization: Countries are increasingly at odds with each other. There is wider disparity among political parties. Trump is making what look to many people like unreasonable demands, both within the US and around the world. I believe that there is an underlying problem that most people are missing. A worldwide shortage of diesel and jet fuel is forcing international trade to begin moving into a new downward phase, relative to the recent share of GDP shown on Figure 1. Figure 1. Trade as a share of GDP,…

British Oil and Gas giant Shell Plc. (NYSE:SHEL) needs an exploration breakthrough or a big merger after its oil reserves fell to the lowest levels since 2013, exposing the company to a production shortfall in less than a decade. Shell's so-called 'reserve life'--denoting how long its proven reserves can sustain production at current levels– has dropped to less than 8 years, significantly lower compared with Exxon (NYSE:XOM) and TotalEnergies (NYSE:TTE), each with reserve lives exceeding 12 years. Shell is now facing a production shortfall…