Oil traders and shipping companies are scrambling to expand tanker operations to move Venezuelan crude as Washington prepares to take delivery of sanctioned oil following the ouster of President Nicolás Maduro, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter. Trading houses and oil majors including Chevron, Vitol, and Trafigura are competing for U.S. government-backed export deals after President Donald Trump said Venezuela could hand over up to 50 million barrels of crude to the United States. Trafigura told U.S. officials last week…

Industry consultant Enverus has predicted that Venezuela will increase oil production 50% and hit 1.5 million barrels a day by 2035 following the capture of long-time leader Nicolas Maduro by the Trump administration.  In its most bullish scenario, Enverus envisions Venezuela’s production tripling to 3 million barrels per day over the next decade.  However, Enverus has predicted that the 30-50 million barrels that Trump ordered Venezuela to relinquish to the U.S. will not have a major impact on global markets. “Even with accelerated…

Azerbaijan rolled out the red carpet for a delegation led by Carl Kress, the regional director for Eurasia of the US Trade and Development Agency. Local media reports characterized Kress’ talks with a variety of top Azerbaijani government officials as “constructive” but no specific deals were announced. “The two sides highlighted significant potential for collaboration across multiple sectors,” noted a commentary published by the government-connected website Caliber.az. Discussions focused on the development…

Kazakhstan cut oil production in December by more than 200 Kb/d, with output averaging 1.522 million barrels per day in the final month down from 1.759 mb/d in November. December production was also significantly lower than the full-year average of 1.776 mb/d for 2025.  The lower production was attributed to the forced suspension of Single Point Mooring (SPM-3) following a drone attack coupled with adverse weather conditions that hit the Black Sea. Unidentified drones struck two oil tankers in the Black Sea, including one chartered by Chevron…

Greenland’s long-dormant oil story has resurfaced, once again with US interests at the forefront. Greenland Energy and 80 Mile PLC plan to drill two onshore wells in eastern Greenland’s Jameson Land basin by the summer of 2026, the island’s first hydrocarbon drilling in more than a decade. Independent estimates put unrisked recoverable resources at around 4 billion barrels, with much larger oil-in-place figures cited by project partners. The return of American companies also coincides with renewed US geopolitical interest in Greenland,…

Brent Crude prices have the potential to hit $70 per barrel over the next three months amid heightened geopolitical risks, according to analysts at Citi.  The investment bank raised its 0-3 month outlook on Brent Crude prices to $70 per barrel from $65 a barrel previously, due to upside pressure from geopolitical risks.   Early on Wednesday, Brent Crude traded 1% higher at above $66 per barrel as the market has started to price in a potential U.S. strike on Iran and the potential of supply disruptions in the region.  “We…

Brent Crude prices have the potential to hit $70 per barrel over the next three months amid heightened geopolitical risks, according to analysts at Citi.  The investment bank raised its 0-3 month outlook on Brent Crude prices to $70 per barrel from $65 a barrel previously, due to upside pressure from geopolitical risks.   Early on Wednesday, Brent Crude traded 1% higher at above $66 per barrel as the market has started to price in a potential U.S. strike on Iran and the potential of supply disruptions in the region.  “We…

Crude oil inventories in the United States increased by 3.4 million barrels during the week ending January 14, according to new data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released on Wednesday. The decrease brings commercial stockpiles to 422.4 million barrels according to government data, which is 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 suggested that crude oil inventories grew by 5.27 million barrels. Crude prices were…

China is expected to see a plunge in imports of oil from Venezuela in February as the now month-long U.S. blockade has prevented many China-bound cargoes from leaving Venezuelan waters.   The deliveries of crude and fuel oil from Venezuela to China in February are estimated at just 166,000 barrels per day, as just 5 million barrels of Venezuelan crude and fuel oil have managed to leave the South American country in recent weeks, analysts and traders tell Reuters.  To compare, Venezuela’s exports of combined crude and fuel oil…

The United States will officially begin negotiations to dismantle the Western world's operating system in just about 30 minutes or so...and oil prices are up just over 1% in anticipation.  The meeting, which will take place at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, will include Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and the foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland.  The official agenda serves up standard diplomatic fare: "Arctic security," "strategic partnership," and "resource development." But the reality in the…

ExxonMobil and Shell have decided not to proceed with a planned sale of their joint assets in the southern UK North Sea to Viaro Energy.  Despite months of work to complete the transaction, completion conditions have not been met and the deal has been subject of a lengthy review by the UK’s regulator, the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA).  Last year, Viaro Energy signed an agreement to take over Shell and Exxon’s UK Southern North Sea assets, which are one of the largest and longest producing gas asset portfolios in the…

US President Donald Trump has told protesters in Iran that "help is on the way" as the death toll after more than two weeks of anti-government protests continues to increase, sparking a global outcry. In an interview with to CBS News Trump said the US will take “very strong action” in Iran if the regime starts hanging protesters. "We don't want to see what's happening in Iran happen," he said. "It's not gonna work out good." He added that the administration is waiting for an official confirmation of the number of protesters killed by…

ExxonMobil and Shell have decided not to proceed with a planned sale of their joint assets in the southern UK North Sea to Viaro Energy.  Despite months of work to complete the transaction, completion conditions have not been met and the deal has been subject of a lengthy review by the UK’s regulator, the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA).  Last year, Viaro Energy signed an agreement to take over Shell and Exxon’s UK Southern North Sea assets, which are one of the largest and longest producing gas asset portfolios in the…

The UK on Wednesday awarded a record-breaking 8.4 gigawatts (GW) capacity of offshore wind in its latest auction round, which puts Britain “firmly on track to achieve its clean power mission by 2030,” the government said.    The Contracts for Difference AR7 auction secured offshore wind capacity capable of generating enough clean electricity to power the equivalent of 12 million UK homes.   “The results deliver the biggest single procurement of offshore wind energy in British and European history - confounding…

Last week, U.S. President Donald Trump’s Venezuela pitch to oil executives to invest the vast sums required to revive the country’s flagging oil sector proved largely ineffectual. Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) CEO Darren Woods offered the starkest assessment, calling the South American country “uninvestable” under its current commercial frameworks and hydrocarbon laws, while ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) CEO Ryan Lance also gave Trump a reality check, informing him his company lost billions of dollars when it exited the country under…

A couple of years ago, Venezuela’s government decided to revive a territorial claim over much of its neighbor, Guyana. The tiny country was emerging as a major oil producer, and Venezuela wanted a piece. Then came Trump and removed the head of that government. Essequibo lies between Guyana and Venezuela, with both claiming sovereignty, while Venezuela is planning a referendum on Sunday to determine the territory’s ownership future. The 61,000+ square mile territory represents about two-thirds of Guyana’s territory and is also…

Saudi Arabia’s sudden enthusiasm for developing its vast shale resources -- led by the giant Jafurah basin -- is rooted in a hard?nosed mix of energy security, export optimisation, and geopolitical positioning. Riyadh wants to slash the crude it still burns for power, free up more barrels for export at a time of tight OPEC+ management, and secure new feedstock for its expanding petrochemicals and industrial base. At the same time, the Kingdom is acutely aware that the U.S. shale boom reshaped global energy markets and eroded OPEC’s…

The American Petroleum Institute (API) estimated that crude oil inventories in the United States saw a build of 5.27 million barrels in the week ending January 9. Crude oil inventories sagged by 2.8 million barrels in the week prior. The Department of Energy (DoE) reported that crude oil inventories in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) rose by 200,000 barrels to 413.7 million barrels in the week ending January 9. Inventories in the SPR have been steadily increasing over the last year as the US Administration seeks to return the national stockpile…

Lebanon’s brutal civil war triggered waves of emigration to South America, with large diasporas settling in Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela and Colombia. Hezbollah initially built networks in those communities to buttress recruitment and finances. The U.S.-designated terrorist group then expanded into South America’s illicit economies, building relationships with transnational criminal syndicates and illegal armed structures to boost its finances. This increased Hezbollah’s capability to wage asymmetric warfare against the United…

Oil prices haven’t had a breather since the year started as one geopolitical crisis has moved to another. Just a week after the U.S. intervention in Venezuela captured Nicolas Maduro, U.S. President Donald Trump has turned his sights to Iran, threatening a U.S. response to the deadly suppression of mass protests against the Islamic Republic’s regime. Oil settled on Monday at a one-month high amid concerns about a potential supply disruption in the Middle East if Iranian protests further escalate and a U.S. intervention of some kind…