Back in July, UK oil and gas major BP Plc. (NYSE:BP) announced that it was putting its entire UK North Sea oil and gas business up for sale as part of a broader $20-billion portfolio overhaul, marking the end of a 60-year era as a leading player in Europe's largest oil basin. BP's North Sea operations produced about 117,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2025 (roughly 5% of BP's total global output) and employed around 1,100 people. BP is hardly alone. Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) and Chevron (NYSE:CVX) have sold their UK North Sea assets in recent…

Asia-bound Russian crude and fuel supplies are being rerouted as the US-Israeli war on Iran and disruptions in the straits of Hormuz and Bab al-Mandab choke off traditional crude flows from the Persian Gulf. Indeed, Russia increased oil and LNG shipments via the Northern Sea Route (NSR) and utilized shadow fleets to bypass chokepoints and fulfill Asian demand. Reuters reports that Russia’s oil exports through its NSR in 2026 have already exceeded last year’s by nearly 50%, with 20 million barrels shipped to Asia from the July to mid-October…

Central Asia’s two economic drivers, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, seem satisfied with the results of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s visit to the region. But Astana and Tashkent both want to see more done to “translate political agreements into concrete investments.” Rubio led a large American delegation that participated in a business forum in the Uzbek city of Samarkand on October 19. The same day he met with the foreign ministers of all five Central Asian states within the C5+1 format and held one-on-one talks with…

Saudi Arabia's crude exports rose about 7.9% in August from July to 4.451 million barrels per day, the highest since March, while its oil production fell to a record low of 6.24 million bpd, the Joint Organizations Data Initiative (JODI) showed Wednesday, Reuters reported. Production was 8.135 million bpd in July and 6.560 million bpd in May. Exports were 4.125 million bpd in July. In March, they were 4.974 million bpd, JODI data showed in May. Refinery crude throughput fell by 181,000 bpd to 2.297 million bpd in August from 2.478 million bpd in…

Saudi Arabia's crude exports rose about 7.9% in August from July to 4.451 million barrels per day, the highest since March, while its oil production fell to a record low of 6.24 million bpd, the Joint Organizations Data Initiative (JODI) showed Wednesday, Reuters reported. Production was 8.135 million bpd in July and 6.560 million bpd in May. Exports were 4.125 million bpd in July. In March, they were 4.974 million bpd, JODI data showed in May. Refinery crude throughput fell by 181,000 bpd to 2.297 million bpd in August from 2.478 million bpd in…

Here is a question that should be harder to answer than it is: China still controls the rare earth spigot, the latest Trump-Xi summit did nothing to loosen its grip, Japan is about to run out of yttrium, Washington has put a $110/kg floor under NdPr, and Western buyers are paying anywhere from 5x to 346x the Chinese price for heavy rare earths. So why are rare earth stocks down on the year? That is the question Canaccord's critical minerals team led by Reg Spencer asks in an overnight note titled "Rare Earths: Equity disconnect from strong…

General Motors will add hybrids in multiple segments, CEO Mary Barra told analysts Oct. 20, with US gasoline at $4.28 a gallon, up from $3.04 a year earlier. GM's US sales fell 6% in the third quarter, while Toyota's sales of electrified vehicles rose 28.5%. "We will have hybrids," Barra said on the company's third-quarter earnings call, in answer to UBS analyst Joe Spak. She said GM will give more detail closer to launch. Barra said the hybrids will come in segments where GM already competes. She said much of today's hybrid activity is in compact…

General Motors will add hybrids in multiple segments, CEO Mary Barra told analysts Oct. 20, with US gasoline at $4.28 a gallon, up from $3.04 a year earlier. GM's US sales fell 6% in the third quarter, while Toyota's sales of electrified vehicles rose 28.5%. "We will have hybrids," Barra said on the company's third-quarter earnings call, in answer to UBS analyst Joe Spak. She said GM will give more detail closer to launch. Barra said the hybrids will come in segments where GM already competes. She said much of today's hybrid activity is in compact…

A major gas field in the North Sea has been re-approved by the government following years of legal rows with environmental campaigners. The Jackdaw site, a large offshore natural gas field 150 miles east of Aberdeen, has received the official stamp of approval from the government and is expected to supply gas to the UK “by the end of the month”. The project was first green-lit back in 2022, but has faced successful legal challenges from activists over its climate impact. Multiple industry bodies and US President Donald Trump have urged…

India’s largest state-owned refiner, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), will reduce slightly the volumes of Middle East crude oil it will buy under annual term deals in the 2027/2028 fiscal year starting next March, amid uncertainty of supply from the region, an anonymous source with knowledge of the plans told Reuters on Wednesday. IOC initially planned to procure 47% of its crude oil from the Middle East for the coming fiscal year, but it would now “slightly” reduce this share, according to Reuters’ source. Refiners in India…

India’s largest state-owned refiner, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), will reduce slightly the volumes of Middle East crude oil it will buy under annual term deals in the 2027/2028 fiscal year starting next March, amid uncertainty of supply from the region, an anonymous source with knowledge of the plans told Reuters on Wednesday. IOC initially planned to procure 47% of its crude oil from the Middle East for the coming fiscal year, but it would now “slightly” reduce this share, according to Reuters’ source. Refiners in India…

India’s largest state-owned refiner, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), will reduce slightly the volumes of Middle East crude oil it will buy under annual term deals in the 2027/2028 fiscal year starting next March, amid uncertainty of supply from the region, an anonymous source with knowledge of the plans told Reuters on Wednesday. IOC initially planned to procure 47% of its crude oil from the Middle East for the coming fiscal year, but it would now “slightly” reduce this share, according to Reuters’ source. Refiners in India…

India’s largest state-owned refiner, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), will reduce slightly the volumes of Middle East crude oil it will buy under annual term deals in the 2027/2028 fiscal year starting next March, amid uncertainty of supply from the region, an anonymous source with knowledge of the plans told Reuters on Wednesday. IOC initially planned to procure 47% of its crude oil from the Middle East for the coming fiscal year, but it would now “slightly” reduce this share, according to Reuters’ source. Refiners in India…

Crude oil inventories in the United States saw a decrease of 3.1 million barrels during the week ending October 16, according to new data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released on Wednesday. The decrease brings commercial stockpiles to 412.5 million barrels, according to government data, which is now 3% below the five-year average for this time of year. The EIA’s data release follows API’s figures that were released a day earlier, which reported that crude oil inventories had fallen by 4.93 million barrels in…

Robust crude oil flows out of the Middle East in recent weeks have started to pressure the key metric of strength for physical supply out of the region. The premium of Oman crude over Dubai, the measure of Middle East’s market strength, has slumped this week to the lowest level since the end of July, to $4.22 per barrel, according to data by General Index cited by Bloomberg. The Oman-Dubai crude differential had soared to as high as $65 in March when the Strait of Hormuz was at a virtual closure and no crude cargoes were moving out of the…

Robust crude oil flows out of the Middle East in recent weeks have started to pressure the key metric of strength for physical supply out of the region. The premium of Oman crude over Dubai, the measure of Middle East’s market strength, has slumped this week to the lowest level since the end of July, to $4.22 per barrel, according to data by General Index cited by Bloomberg. The Oman-Dubai crude differential had soared to as high as $65 in March when the Strait of Hormuz was at a virtual closure and no crude cargoes were moving out of the…

Robust crude oil flows out of the Middle East in recent weeks have started to pressure the key metric of strength for physical supply out of the region. The premium of Oman crude over Dubai, the measure of Middle East’s market strength, has slumped this week to the lowest level since the end of July, to $4.22 per barrel, according to data by General Index cited by Bloomberg. The Oman-Dubai crude differential had soared to as high as $65 in March when the Strait of Hormuz was at a virtual closure and no crude cargoes were moving out of the…

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he is thankful to the US as intelligence on Russian missile strikes "works now," after talks with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in Oslo. Zelenskyy had previously said that Washington had temporarily paused some intelligence sharing with Kyiv before resuming it. "We are thankful that intelligence works.... I'm speaking about early warning, what is very important for our people, for children, adults, civilians, because we can hear when ballistic [missiles are] coming," Zelenskyy told reporters…

Taiwan is the next pressure point that will test China's weaponization of rare earth metals. When Japan indicated it would not remain neutral in a Taiwan conflict, Beijing responded by sharply restricting exports of several heavy rare earth materials, including dysprosium and terbium. Japan was the test case. With U.S.-China tensions escalating, a confrontation could likely lead to an immediate blockade of Chinese rare earths to American markets, pressuring U.S. defense without firing a single shot. From a defense perspective, it would be disastrous…

Recently, we reported that the Middle East conflict and subsequent closure of the Strait of Hormuz has triggered an unprecedented spike in freight and shipping rates, with Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) spot rates now exceeding $1 million per day. The sharp spike is now reshaping oil flows and forcing producers to cut prices in a bid to help buyers offset extra transport costs. The situation is a little different in Brazil, where the offshore sector is facing a potential vessel shortage as demand outruns supply amid the offshore oil boom, positioning…