TotalEnergies has signed an agreement with Lebanon to obtain an offshore exploration permit in the eastern Mediterranean next to a block where it has started exploration, the French oil and gas supermajor said on Friday. TotalEnergies, as the operator and holder of 35% in the permit, and its partners Eni (35%) and QatarEnergy (30%) have signed the agreement with the Lebanese government to enter Block 8 exploration permit.  Block 8 is located west of Block 9, where TotalEnergies drilled for potential resources in 2023.  “Although…

The volume of Venezuelan oil in tankers at sea has jumped to over 29 million barrels following the U.S. blitz to extract Nicolas Maduro out of Venezuela, up from 20 million barrels held at sea at the start of this week, Bloomberg reported on Friday, quoting vessel-monitoring data by Kpler.  The U.S. captured Maduro in a weekend operation by U.S. forces and flew him to New York to face drug-trafficking charges. The Trump Administration strong-armed the authorities in Venezuela to give the United States “total access” to its oil…

The volume of Venezuelan oil in tankers at sea has jumped to over 29 million barrels following the U.S. blitz to extract Nicolas Maduro out of Venezuela, up from 20 million barrels held at sea at the start of this week, Bloomberg reported on Friday, quoting vessel-monitoring data by Kpler.  The U.S. captured Maduro in a weekend operation by U.S. forces and flew him to New York to face drug-trafficking charges. The Trump Administration strong-armed the authorities in Venezuela to give the United States “total access” to its oil…

The prospect of increased Venezuelan heavy crude and fuel oil flows to the U.S. Gulf Coast has upended the high-sulfur fuel oil (HSFO) market as far as Asia.     The premium of HSFO prices in Asia over the same fuel in the West has surged this week to the highest in eight months, since May 2025, as supply from Venezuela is set to increase in the U.S. and the Western hemisphere. At the same time, flows of sanctioned supply from Venezuela to China, its key buyer, are dwindling amid the U.S. blockade of shadow fleet vessels carrying…

The prospect of increased Venezuelan heavy crude and fuel oil flows to the U.S. Gulf Coast has upended the high-sulfur fuel oil (HSFO) market as far as Asia.     The premium of HSFO prices in Asia over the same fuel in the West has surged this week to the highest in eight months, since May 2025, as supply from Venezuela is set to increase in the U.S. and the Western hemisphere. At the same time, flows of sanctioned supply from Venezuela to China, its key buyer, are dwindling amid the U.S. blockade of shadow fleet vessels carrying…

India saw a seasonal record power consumption in December, with peak demand surging very close to the summer levels, when electricity demand in the country is at its highest.  Chillier weather in December and the increased use of heating appliances have resulted in peak demand surging to 241 gigawatts (GW), up by 7.5% compared to December 2024, according to data from India’s Central Electricity Authority cited by Bloomberg. This was very close to the 243 GW peak demand this summer. India’s electricity demand is typically at its…

Oil prices continued to climb in early Asian trade on Friday morning after posting a sharp increase on Thursday, with the market again pricing in geopolitical risk across multiple key producers and shipping routes. At the time of writing, West Texas Intermediate was trading around $58.27 per barrel, up by 0.85% or $0.49. On Thursday, both WTI and Brent climbed by over 3%, with Brent on the brink of breaking the $62 mark. Venezuela remained a major driver of the risk premium after the U.S. escalated enforcement against sanctioned flows by seizing…

Earlier in the week, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that Venezuela’s interim authorities will be turning over up to 50 million barrels of oil to the United States, before later declaring his administration will control Venezuela's oil sales 'indefinitely'. Trump has decried the state of Venezuela’s oil sector, noting that the country is producing well below its full potential. “They were pumping almost nothing by comparison to what they could have been pumping and what could have taken place,” Trump said. “We’re…

A dip in tanker rates has improved the price outlook for U.S. crude this month, as it signals stronger demand. However, the relief may not last too long as most tanker market forecasts for the year still see rates much higher than they were in 2025. “The shipping markets are freeing up, and rates are tanking from the US to Asia, and the UK to Asia,” one analyst from financial services provider TP ICAP told Bloomberg this week, adding that the trend was boosting demand for U.S. crude oil. As a result, local U.S. benchmark prices have…

Big Tech firms are requesting hundreds of gigawatts of power demand from data centers to connect to the U.S. grids. But aging grid infrastructure in key regional markets and grid investments lagging behind the soaring demand are forcing grid operators to offer some alternative options to the hyperscalers looking to hook up their proposed data centers to the grids.      One is “bring your own generation”—a trend that’s expected to rise in the coming years. In many areas, grid operators are telling Big…

New York City’s government has achieved a remarkable drop in greenhouse gas emissions. A new report shows that the city’s municipal operators are using less energy and emitting less carbon than they were twenty years ago. In fact, while greenhouse gas emissions around the world continue to climb, New York’s governmental emissions have dropped a stunning 31 percent since 2006, reaching their lowest level in decades. This remarkable achievement comes thanks to several different policy approaches to making New York City greener and…

In 2025, the Middle East solidified its role as the primary stabilizing force in a fragmented global energy system. While international markets faced geopolitical dislocation and divergent transition pathways, the leading Middle Eastern national oil companies (NOCs) adopted a consistent strategy of sustaining hydrocarbon primacy while systematically reducing costs and carbon intensity. More than $100 billion in upstream capital deployment enabled the NOCs to expand crude spare capacity and accelerate gas development, while selective international…

Data center load accounted for $6.5 billion, or 40%, of the $16.4 billion in costs from the PJM Interconnection’s December capacity auction, according to the grid operator’s independent market monitor. About $6.2 billion of those costs is related to data centers that haven’t been built but could come online by PJM’s 2027/28 delivery year that begins on June 1, 2027, Monitoring Analytics, the market monitor, said in a report released Monday. In PJM’s last three base capacity auctions, costs related to data center…

India’s largest refiner is signaling it may be ready to reopen a door it closed less than a year ago — if Washington lets it. Reliance Industries said Thursday it would consider buying Venezuelan crude again if sales are permitted to non-U.S. buyers, showing just how quickly global oil trade patterns are being reshuffled after the United States moved to allow limited Venezuelan exports following the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro. Reliance, which operates the world’s largest refining complex, stopped taking Venezuelan…

India’s largest refiner is signaling it may be ready to reopen a door it closed less than a year ago — if Washington lets it. Reliance Industries said Thursday it would consider buying Venezuelan crude again if sales are permitted to non-U.S. buyers, showing just how quickly global oil trade patterns are being reshuffled after the United States moved to allow limited Venezuelan exports following the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro. Reliance, which operates the world’s largest refining complex, stopped taking Venezuelan…

The online debate continues to rage over the merits and demerits of the U.S.’s audacious capture of Nicolás Maduro. Narratives around international law and geopolitical ramifications are relevant, but Venezuela’s oil potential now dominates. I have written that the ‘war for oil’ narrative is a mirage. Just as there are many competing interests in the Trump administration, there are myriad motives for Maduro’s removal – be they fair or foul. While Venezuela’s proven reserves are formidable, the expert…

U.S. President Donald Trump has invited heads of commodity trading firms, Vitol and Trafigura, to the White House for talks on Friday regarding the marketing of Venezuelan oil,  Reuters has reported.  Whereas the Trump administration has tapped U.S. oil majors to play a leading role in extracting and selling crude from Venezuela, the giant European firms are some of the largest oil traders in the world, and undoubtedly have the requisite expertise to market oil from Venezuela. Vitol delivered an average of 7.2 million barrels per day…

U.S. President Donald Trump has invited heads of commodity trading firms, Vitol and Trafigura, to the White House for talks on Friday regarding the marketing of Venezuelan oil,  Reuters has reported.  Whereas the Trump administration has tapped U.S. oil majors to play a leading role in extracting and selling crude from Venezuela, the giant European firms are some of the largest oil traders in the world, and undoubtedly have the requisite expertise to market oil from Venezuela. Vitol delivered an average of 7.2 million barrels per day…

Azerbaijani leader Ilham Aliyev is pushing for the creation of a Turkic trade corridor that connects Central Asia’s resource riches to Western markets. In Aliyev’s view, Turkic states should work in 2026 not only to increase coordination on connectivity and trade but also start building a robust defense and security component. Aliyev outlined his vision during an expansive news conference on January 5, where he designated the Organization of Turkic States (OTS) as the corridor’s foundation.…

Bobi Wine, a pop star-turned-politician and an opposition candidate in Uganda’s presidential election next week, will review all oil contracts the country has with international oil firms and revise any deals that aren’t favorable for Ugandans. “We shall study all agreements,” Wine told Reuters in an interview published on Thursday, a week before Uganda – an aspiring oil-producing nation – holds presidential elections on January 15. “And any part in those agreements that does not favour Ugandans will definitely…