Since Saudi Arabia announced plans to develop its Neom mega-project in 2017, it has been widely criticised by architects, engineers, and energy experts for being unattainable. Nevertheless, the Kingdom marched on, commencing works on several parts of its mega-city, including The Line (a 170-km linear city), Oxagon (floating industrial hub), Trojena (mountain ski resort), and Sindalah (luxury island). However, as projected construction costs have risen again and again, and several challenges have arisen, the government has finally decided to scrap…

The oil futures paper market is likely underestimating the massive supply disruption that a closed Strait of Hormuz is creating in physical crude and fuel supply globally. Crude futures prices briefly spiked early this week to $119 per barrel, before retreating to the $90s and trading at $100 a barrel early on Friday in Asian trade. However, the premium of physical Dubai crude has surged to $38 per barrel over its paper equivalent, according to data compiled by Reuters columnist Clyde Russell. The wide gap between paper and physical prices suggests…

The United States and Iran are fighting not just because of their differences, but also because of their similarities. Both countries see themselves as exceptional civilizations shaped by religion and sustained by a sense of victimhood. Each believes it has been repeatedly wronged by the other and is therefore acting defensively. This mutual narrative has become one of the most powerful forces shaping U.S.–Iran relations. Both nations interpret the relationship through different historical starting points. Because their memories of the conflict…

As the war in Iran spills over into other parts of the Middle East, energy experts expect the price of several oil and gas products to soar over the coming months, driven by shortages. This will likely affect flight prices, with several airlines warning of anticipated price hikes. It could lead to a travel slump, as consumers wait for prices to fall again. Australia’s Qantas Airways, Scandinavia’s SAS, and Air New Zealand are three of the airlines to have already announced airfare hikes in response to the ongoing conflict in the Middle…

This week, Zimbabwe took a historic step to protect its own value chains from external exploitation by fast-tracking a ban on raw lithium exports, effective until further notice – and the impacts have been widespread both domestically and abroad. The February 25 ban was immediate and unexpected, as were its impacts on global battery supply chains and local mining operations.  Originally, the export ban was planned for January 2027, with the intent of incentivizing the local processing and refining of lithium instead of leaving value…

Since coming into power in January 2025, United States President Trump has pursued an energy policy centred around fossil fuels. As part of his plan to expand U.S. oil and gas production, Trump has made it easier to attain licences to dig for fossil fuels on federal land and has reopened several regions to exploration. One such region is Alaska, where new exploration had previously been restricted due to environmental concerns. However, during the recent sale of oil and gas leases in Alaska, there was little interest in the region, suggesting that…

U.S. President Donald Trump said American forces had launched a major bombing raid on Iran’s strategic Kharg Island, targeting military facilities on the key Persian Gulf outpost while warning Tehran that its vital oil infrastructure could be destroyed if shipping in the Strait of Hormuz is disrupted. In a social media statement, Trump said that at his direction the United States Central Command carried out “one of the most powerful bombing raids in the history of the Middle East,” claiming U.S. forces had “totally obliterated…

U.S. President Donald Trump said American forces had launched a major bombing raid on Iran’s strategic Kharg Island, targeting military facilities on the key Persian Gulf outpost while warning Tehran that its vital oil infrastructure could be destroyed if shipping in the Strait of Hormuz is disrupted. In a social media statement, Trump said that at his direction the United States Central Command carried out “one of the most powerful bombing raids in the history of the Middle East,” claiming U.S. forces had “totally obliterated…

A new coalition of tech firms, including Google and Tesla, is banding together to address the growing issue of energy affordability in the United States. The AI boom is pushing energy grids around the country to the max, and skyrocketing energy demand from the data centers that power large language models is causing energy prices to soar. Until now, consumers have had to pay the price for Big Tech’s AI ambitions, but the coalition – called Utilize – is pledging to lower energy prices across the board by optimizing grid utilization.…

2026 is shaping up to be a ‘hot year for lithium.’ The metal, which is sometimes referred to as ‘white gold’ due to skyrocketing demand for the stuff, is integral in the production of all kinds of technology and clean energy manufacturing. You probably have at least one lithium-ion battery within arms reach at this very moment inside of your phone or smartwatch or any number of other rechargeable devices.  And while lithium prices have been volatile for years as producers struggle to match production with demand growth,…

For almost a decade, the global oil debate has been dominated by a powerful narrative: the world is drowning in crude. Financial pundits, banks, and energy agencies were all hitting the drums to announce a structural “oil glut”. A majority in oil markets was following the theory that the combined impact of US shale expansion, Russian exports, and sanctioned Iranian barrels quietly appearing in markets, along with slower demand due to energy transition investments, would all subdue prices for years. As indicated by the IEA, but also…

Bank of America is warning investors not to chase oil prices higher if crude climbs above $100 per barrel, arguing that prices at those levels tend to trigger government and central bank responses aimed at cooling the economy. The bank said oil has already been one of the biggest market movers this year. Crude prices are up nearly 70% year-to-date, far outpacing broader commodities, which are up about 41%, and gold, which has gained roughly 17%. Over the same period, the S&P 500 has fallen about 2.5%, while bitcoin has dropped around 20%. According…

Bank of America is warning investors not to chase oil prices higher if crude climbs above $100 per barrel, arguing that prices at those levels tend to trigger government and central bank responses aimed at cooling the economy. The bank said oil has already been one of the biggest market movers this year. Crude prices are up nearly 70% year-to-date, far outpacing broader commodities, which are up about 41%, and gold, which has gained roughly 17%. Over the same period, the S&P 500 has fallen about 2.5%, while bitcoin has dropped around 20%. According…

The International Energy Agency (IEA) has warned that the current energy crisis triggered by the war in the Middle East marks the “largest disruption” in the history of the oil market. The group made a record intervention in the market on Wednesday, with the release of 400m barrels from the strategic reserves. But the move has made little difference to the surging price of Brent crude – the international benchmark for oil – which once again eclipsed the $100 mark on Thursday on the news two Iraqi tankers had been struck…

The total number of active drilling rigs for oil and gas in the United States rose this week, according to new data that Baker Hughes published on Friday, bringing the total rig count in the US to 553 this week, down 39 from this same time last year. The number of active oil rigs rose by 1 to 412 during the latest reporting period, according to the data. This is 75 below this same time last year. The number of gas rigs also rose by 1, reaching 133, which is 33 more than this time last year. The miscellaneous rig count stayed the same at 8. The…

The United States and Israel have largely destroyed Iran's conventional naval fleet in a massive bombing campaign since February 28. But Tehran's threat to the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world's most important shipping routes, has not diminished. Iran has effectively closed the narrow waterway, through which 20 percent of the world's oil supplies flow, by using asymmetric warfare tactics. Besides Iran's conventional navy, the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), the elite branch of the country's armed forces, has its own naval…

Saudi Arabia has slashed oil output by roughly 20% as the war with Iran continues to choke off exports from the Persian Gulf, in what could become one of the largest sudden supply losses the global oil market has ever faced. Saudi production has dropped by about 2 million barrels per day to around 8 million bpd after the kingdom shut down output from the massive Safaniya and Zuluf offshore fields, according to sources cited by Reuters. The two fields together produce more than 2 million bpd of mainly heavy and medium-heavy crude. The shutdown is…

Saudi Arabia has slashed oil output by roughly 20% as the war with Iran continues to choke off exports from the Persian Gulf, in what could become one of the largest sudden supply losses the global oil market has ever faced. Saudi production has dropped by about 2 million barrels per day to around 8 million bpd after the kingdom shut down output from the massive Safaniya and Zuluf offshore fields, according to sources cited by Reuters. The two fields together produce more than 2 million bpd of mainly heavy and medium-heavy crude. The shutdown is…

The operator of Tengiz, the biggest oilfield in Kazakhstan, on Friday said it is investigating an incident from Wednesday, which has not interrupted supply.  The field, operated by a Chevron-led consortium, has not stopped oil production, sources told Reuters.   Uninterrupted operations at Tengiz, which has the capacity to produce as much as 950,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil, would be crucial for global oil supply at these times in which about 10% of daily oil supply is already shut in by the producers in the Middle East,…

The operator of Tengiz, the biggest oilfield in Kazakhstan, on Friday said it is investigating an incident from Wednesday, which has not interrupted supply.  The field, operated by a Chevron-led consortium, has not stopped oil production, sources told Reuters.   Uninterrupted operations at Tengiz, which has the capacity to produce as much as 950,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil, would be crucial for global oil supply at these times in which about 10% of daily oil supply is already shut in by the producers in the Middle East,…