An LNG tanker linked to Russia's Arctic gas trade and sanctioned by the UK has stopped at a port in northern Norway in the first appearance of such a vessel under Western sanctions in these waters. The Clean Ocean LNG tanker, which the UK sanctioned in October 2025 due to links to sanctioned Russian LNG trade, made a 12-hour stop off the port of Honningsvåg in northern Norway a week ago, ship tracking data reviewed by High North News (HNN) showed on Tuesday. Russia has been using sanctioned tankers to move its LNG out of Arctic export projects…

Oil prices whipsawed after reports of a possible U.S.-Iran framework deal briefly sent Brent plunging, only for fresh U.S. strikes on Iran to push crude back toward $100. Probable Super Niño Adds Insult to Injury for LNG Buyers - The arrival of a powerful El Niño this year, potentially even a 'Super Niño’ with sea surface temperature anomalies exceeding +2°C, could roil commodity markets simultaneously to ongoing shocks from the US-Iran war. - Hotter weather will boost cooling demand and lift overall consumption of…

The chair of BP has been fired after less than a year, after “serious concerns” about his conduct were lodged with the energy major’s board. Albert Manifold was stripped of his roles as chair and director of the London-listed petrochemicals giant having only taken the reins last July, with director Amanda Blanc saying the board had unearthed several cases of serious misconduct during his tenure. The ousting was reportedly on account of his “volcanic” temper towards colleagues, which stretched to verbal abuse and bullying.…

Japan is looking to protect the assets of Japanese companies operating in Russia, including in some energy projects, by keeping communication channels open, a top Japanese official said on Tuesday. “We have been dispatching Japanese government officials to Russia to maintain contact, and this current dispatch is part of that ongoing effort,” Ryosei Akazawa, Japan’s Trade Minister, said at a briefing, as carried by Bloomberg. Several major Japanese companies continue to operate in Russia although most firms from Japan’s Western…

The U.S. military carried out “self-defense strikes” on Monday in southern Iran against targets including boats attempting to lay mines and missile launch sites, the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said. The strikes were designed “to protect our troops from threats posed by Iranian forces,” CENTCOM said in a statement to The Epoch Times. “U.S. Central Command continues to defend our forces while using restraint during the ongoing ceasefire,” CENTCOM spokesman Navy Captain Tim Hawkins said in a statement. The attack…

Oil markets traded in an unusual pattern in Tuesday’s early morning session, with Brent crude prices rising while WTI crude fell, a shift from their usual lockstep movements.  Brent crude for July delivery gained 3.16% to trade at $99.18 per barrel at 9:00 am ET on Tuesday… With the comparable WTI crude contract falling 4.09% to change hands at $92.65/bbl a day after U.S. strikes in Iran clouded an expected peace deal.  Brent tends to react more strongly to Middle East shipping risk because it is tied more closely to seaborne…

Concerns about energy security and the push in many countries to boost electrification to replace road transportation fuels are making clean energy investments hot again. As the Middle East crisis and the still closed Strait of Hormuz forces governments into action, renewable stocks and markets are poised for a rebound from institutional investors and hedge funds after a few years of weak returns, according to analysts, investors, and officials. “You need a price signal and then capital and investments will flow into this and the supply will…

Concerns about energy security and the push in many countries to boost electrification to replace road transportation fuels are making clean energy investments hot again. As the Middle East crisis and the still closed Strait of Hormuz forces governments into action, renewable stocks and markets are poised for a rebound from institutional investors and hedge funds after a few years of weak returns, according to analysts, investors, and officials. “You need a price signal and then capital and investments will flow into this and the supply will…

Oil prices opened trade this week with a decline on reports that a deal between the U.S. and Iran was imminent. Brent crude slipped below $100 for the first time in days. But then President Trump said there was no rush on a deal and the U.S blockade in Hormuz would remain. While traders scratch their heads, analysts are warning that crude could remain well above $100 per barrel for years. This is literally uncharted territory for oil. Negotiations with Iran were “proceeding in an orderly and constructive manner,” the U.S. president…

India’s refined petroleum demand growth forecast has received a major downgrade, with rising crude oil import costs, a weaker rupee and government-led austerity and conservation measures expected to dramatically cut oil demand. According to Kpler, India’s refined products demand growth will now come in at just 77,000 barrels per day (kbd) in the current year, down nearly 40% from its previous forecast of 128 kbd. The data and analytics firm has revealed that India's state-run retailers are passing rising import and crude costs to consumers…

Mexican state oil giant Pemex was spared a rating downgrade at Moody’s despite the agency slashing Mexico’s sovereign rating to just one notch above junk status. Yet, the affirmation of Pemex’s ratings masks the struggles of the heavily indebted Mexican oil firm, which has failed to deliver profits even as oil prices surged to above $100 in recent months. Moody’s Ratings on Friday affirmed the ‘ca’ standalone credit strength of Petroleos Mexicanos, as Pemex is officially known, as well as the B1 Corporate Family…

Next year, the United Nations will assess whether Singapore is ready to produce nuclear energy. The International Atomic Energy Agency will begin its review in 2027 in order to determine whether Singapore can make an “informed decision” on potentially deploying next-gen nuclear power as a part of its energy portfolio in coming years. The move comes at a time of enhanced international interest in nuclear power as a baseload clean energy alternative, as well as extreme turmoil in Asian energy markets as a result of the war in Iran and…

Policymakers, politicians, and the media have been talking about the need for better water policy in the desert southwest of the United States for decades. As the Colorado River, a major source of water for much of that area, continues to shrink, policymakers are having a hard time keeping up with nature. A new 10-year plan contemplates cutting water supplies for Arizona, Nevada, and California by up to 40 percent, depending on availability. Not surprisingly, these states don't like the plan that the Trump Administration said it will impose on…

Motorway services will be central to the EV transition, but urgent action is needed to unlock grid capacity, writes Tim Gittins The UK has now passed a significant milestone with more than 2m electric vehicles on the road. It is a powerful signal of the pace at which transport is changing, and of the scale of the challenge now facing policymakers and industry alike in ensuring the infrastructure exists to support that transition at pace in practice, not just in principle. Since the opening of Watford Gap in 1959, the UK's first motorway service…

European natural gas prices fell more than 5% to around €46.3 per megawatt hour, their lowest level in two weeks, amid optimism that the United States and Iran could soon reach a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz following U.S. President Donald Trump’s statement that a deal was nearing finalization after extensive calls with Middle Eastern leaders and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Hours later, Trump shifted his tone on the social media site, revealing that he had instructed U.S. representatives not to rush into a deal…

European natural gas prices fell more than 5% to around €46.3 per megawatt hour, their lowest level in two weeks, amid optimism that the United States and Iran could soon reach a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz following U.S. President Donald Trump’s statement that a deal was nearing finalization after extensive calls with Middle Eastern leaders and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Hours later, Trump shifted his tone on the social media site, revealing that he had instructed U.S. representatives not to rush into a deal…

European data center power purchase agreement (PPA) volumes fell from 4.2 gigawatts (GW) in 2024 to 2.6 GW in 2025, even as capacity buildout accelerated sharply. The drop reflects offshore wind delays and increased challenges in agreeing on PPA price points due to falling capture rates and rising frequency of negative wholesale power price hours, particularly for solar PV. In addition, the race to secure power has led some major hyperscalers to reassess their clean energy ambitions, moderating one of the key demand signals that had supported European…

Kazakhstan will not enforce a special court's decision allowing Ukraine's Naftogaz to collect a $1.4 billion international arbitration award from Russia's Gazprom, Justice Minister Erlan Sarsembayev has declared just days after Kazakhstan’s AIFC court upheld the award. The legal battle stemmed from a 2019 contract for Russian natural gas transit through Ukraine.  Following Russia's 2022 invasion, Naftogaz declared force majeure at a major distribution station, prompting Gazprom to stop fully paying for transit services. In September…

Beset with financing difficulties, Rosatom, Russia’s nuclear energy entity, is begging for more time to start building Kazakhstan’s first nuclear power plant on the shores of Lake Balkhash. The site was selected after extensive study by Kazakh authorities. But at a recent meeting in Moscow, Rosatom chief Alexei Likhachev told the head of Kazakhstan’s Atomic Energy Agency, Almassadam Satkaliyev, that the Russian entity will need “at least a year of observation of the site in order to form all the necessary reports ……

April was indeed the cruellest month for decades for Iraq’s crude oil production, with an average of 1.389 million barrels per day (bpd) over the period. This compares to a monthly average of 3.47 million bpd from January 2002 to the end of March this year, and an average of over 4.1 million bpd in the three months leading up to the onset of the U.S./Israel-Iran War on 28 February. The last time oil production fell to the current level in the country was in the early 2000s, during and immediately following the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. Even…