Oil news
Crude Oil Inventories Continue to Fall
The American Petroleum Institute (API) estimated that crude oil inventories in the United States fell by another 3.674 million barrels in the week ending September 30. This is on top of last week’s 3.821 million barrel draw. So far this year, net crude oil inventories are have swung to a loss this week of 2.22 million barrels, according to Oilprice calculations of API data. Earlier this week, the Department of Energy (DoE) reported that crude oil inventories in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) rose by 700,000 barrels to 406.7 million…
Categories: Oil news
India's Energy Tightrope: Balancing Decarbonization and Development
India is facing considerable international pressure to decarbonize its energy sector, but balancing energy security and a just transition with international climate accords is no easy feat. While India has historically adopted an ‘all of the above’ approach to energy policy, a more organized and comprehensive strategy is needed to walk the tightrope of the energy trilemma – establishing an energy mix that is sufficient, affordable, and sustainable. As energy demand rapidly increases, Indian electric grids require more and more…
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U.S. Treasury's Gold Stash Surpasses $1 Trillion
On the back of a 45% surge in the price of gold this year, the US Treasury's hoard of the barbarous relic has surpassed $1 trillion in value for the first time in history. That is more than 90 times what's stated on the government's balance sheet and is reigniting speculation that Treasury Secretary Bessent could revalue (mark to market) the massive pile of precious metal. Unlike most countries, the US’s gold is held by the government directly, rather than the central bank. The Fed instead holds gold certificates corresponding to the…
Categories: Oil news
EIA Data Shows Record U.S. Oil Output After Major Upward Revision
The U.S. Energy Information Administration just delivered a statistical shock: July’s monthly data shows U.S. total liquids output hitting a record 21.218 million barrels per day, nearly 500,000 bpd higher than the agency’s weekly estimates had implied. Crude production came in at 13.642 million bpd, with natural gas liquids at 7.577 million bpd—both stronger than traders had been working with. The upward revision wasn’t just on the supply side. EIA pegged total product supplied, its proxy for demand, at 20.984 mb/d, some…
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The US Environmental Protection Agency says Coal is Cool, Again
This past June, the US EPA revised its views on power plant emissions, particularly of coal-fired plants. In short, EPA is now in favor of emissions. OK, we’re kidding, but not by much. The agency proposed to rollback: 1) the Clean Air and Water Act, section 111, and 2) MATS, the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards for power plants, back levels established in 2012. (Both rules, the Biden administration strengthened in 2024, to the dismay of coal-fired power plant owners.) The proposed revisions to the CAA are based on two statements of…
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UK Economy Sees Sluggish Growth in Second Quarter
The UK economy grew at a sluggish pace of 0.3 per cent in the second quarter of the year, official data has shown, another major setback for Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ as she hopes to oversee higher growth. The Office for National Statistics left its growth figure unchanged from a previous estimate as it confirmed its figures for growth in the second quarter, which is likely to be viewed cautiously by Treasury officials. The figure is much smaller than 0.7 per cennt growth seen in the first three months of the year, with firms reporting they…
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OPEC Rejects Media Reports of Major Output Hike Ahead of G8 Meet
OPEC has slammed the brake on speculation, flatly rejecting media reports that the G8 is preparing to hike crude oil production by half a million barrels per day. In a statement from Vienna on Tuesday, the OPEC Secretariat called the claims “wholly inaccurate and misleading,” stressing that discussions among ministers for the upcoming meeting haven’t even begun yet. The statement, which reads more like a hostile rebuke, targets earlier media reports that suggested that OPEC+ was weighing a much larger oil production increase…
Categories: Oil news
OPEC Rejects Media Reports of Major Output Hike Ahead of G8 Meet
OPEC has slammed the brake on speculation, flatly rejecting media reports that the G8 is preparing to hike crude oil production by half a million barrels per day. In a statement from Vienna on Tuesday, the OPEC Secretariat called the claims “wholly inaccurate and misleading,” stressing that discussions among ministers for the upcoming meeting haven’t even begun yet. The statement, which reads more like a hostile rebuke, targets earlier media reports that suggested that OPEC+ was weighing a much larger oil production increase…
Categories: Oil news
OPEC Rejects Media Reports of Major Output Hike Ahead of G8 Meet
OPEC has slammed the brake on speculation, flatly rejecting media reports that the G8 is preparing to hike crude oil production by half a million barrels per day. In a statement from Vienna on Tuesday, the OPEC Secretariat called the claims “wholly inaccurate and misleading,” stressing that discussions among ministers for the upcoming meeting haven’t even begun yet. The statement, which reads more like a hostile rebuke, targets earlier media reports that suggested that OPEC+ was weighing a much larger oil production increase…
Categories: Oil news
The Battle for the Future of Energy Storage
The story of energy in the Industrial Age has largely been about access to resources—first coal, then oil and gas. Today, that story is evolving. The next chapter isn’t about drilling fields, but about mastering the batteries and storage systems that can turn renewables into reliable power. Wind and solar are now the fastest-growing sources of electricity on the planet. But their fundamental weakness is intermittency: the sun doesn’t always shine, and the wind doesn’t always blow. Without storage, a grid built on renewables…
Categories: Oil news
Oil Firm Seeks Federal Help to Restart California Offshore Project
U.S. oil firm Sable Offshore Corp, which seeks to restart production offshore California via a pipeline to the coast, has unveiled an alternative offtake strategy after being sued by the Santa Barbara County District Attorney for environmental violations. This alternative strategy, a so-called Offshore Storage and Treating Vessel (OS&T) strategy, would entail seeking federal clearance to transport the oil from the offshore platforms via shuttle tankers. The strategy, aimed to provide access to domestic and global markets for federal crude oil…
Categories: Oil news
Oil Firm Seeks Federal Help to Restart California Offshore Project
U.S. oil firm Sable Offshore Corp, which seeks to restart production offshore California via a pipeline to the coast, has unveiled an alternative offtake strategy after being sued by the Santa Barbara County District Attorney for environmental violations. This alternative strategy, a so-called Offshore Storage and Treating Vessel (OS&T) strategy, would entail seeking federal clearance to transport the oil from the offshore platforms via shuttle tankers. The strategy, aimed to provide access to domestic and global markets for federal crude oil…
Categories: Oil news
China’s Steel Export Boom Fuels Iron Ore Price Rally
Iron ore prices rose this week, despite the overall weakness in the steel industry. Analysts are puzzled by this contradiction, particularly as China’s steel production and local consumption are still not recovering at the rate they should be. According to sector experts, the recent surge hints at a gap between actual raw material demand and steel output. Analysts Look to Chinese Output Iron ore is one of the most important raw materials in steelmaking. As such, ore futures markets are sensitive to expectations and often react negatively…
Categories: Oil news
Double Supply Whammy Knocks Down Oil Prices
OPEC+ supply hike chatter and Iraq’s Kirkuk-Ceyhan restart sparked the steepest daily oil price drop in nearly two months. China Triples ‘Indonesian’ Oil Imports as Iranian Tankers Shift Routes - China has posted a staggering increase in crude imports from Indonesia, a country that has supplied only one cargo of condensate to China last year, as Iranian sellers get increasingly innovative in their ship-to-ship operations.- According to customs data published by Beijing, Chinese imports of Indonesian crude amounted to 2.7 million…
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Russian Crude Shipments Hit 16-Month High Despite U.S. Sanctions
The U.S. Administration’s pressure on the remaining buyers of Russian crude is not yielding the results desired by President Donald Trump. In fact, in the four weeks to September 28, Russia’s crude oil exports by sea hit their highest level since May 2024, tanker-tracking data monitored by Bloomberg showed on Tuesday. Russia exported on average 3.62 million barrels per day (bpd) in the four weeks to September 28, according to the data reported by Bloomberg’s Julian Lee, in a sign that neither India nor any other major buyer…
Categories: Oil news
Russian Crude Shipments Hit 16-Month High Despite U.S. Sanctions
The U.S. Administration’s pressure on the remaining buyers of Russian crude is not yielding the results desired by President Donald Trump. In fact, in the four weeks to September 28, Russia’s crude oil exports by sea hit their highest level since May 2024, tanker-tracking data monitored by Bloomberg showed on Tuesday. Russia exported on average 3.62 million barrels per day (bpd) in the four weeks to September 28, according to the data reported by Bloomberg’s Julian Lee, in a sign that neither India nor any other major buyer…
Categories: Oil news
Kuwait Says Robust Oil Demand Justifies OPEC+ Output Hikes
Global oil demand growth remains strong, underpinning the OPEC+ group’s decisions of the past months to return more supply to the market, Shaikh Nawaf Al-Sabah, chief executive of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, told Bloomberg in an interview published on Tuesday. “It’s a market that’s been more resilient than initially expected by some traders,” the CEO of the state oil firm of one of OPEC’s biggest producers, told Bloomberg. “Therefore you’re seeing a slow but methodical and planned increase…
Categories: Oil news
Kuwait Says Robust Oil Demand Justifies OPEC+ Output Hikes
Global oil demand growth remains strong, underpinning the OPEC+ group’s decisions of the past months to return more supply to the market, Shaikh Nawaf Al-Sabah, chief executive of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, told Bloomberg in an interview published on Tuesday. “It’s a market that’s been more resilient than initially expected by some traders,” the CEO of the state oil firm of one of OPEC’s biggest producers, told Bloomberg. “Therefore you’re seeing a slow but methodical and planned increase…
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Frozen Russian Billions Could Backstop Ukraine’s War Effort
With the United States indicating that it may not be willing to finance Ukraine’s defense needs for much longer, the European Union is looking into various ways of footing a larger part of the bill in 2026 and 2027, assuming -- as most people in Brussels do -- that the war will continue. The most obvious hint of this came during European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s annual policy address to the European Parliament earlier in September in which she floated the idea of a “reparations loan.” More information…
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Imperial Oil to Axe 20% of Workforce on Glut Predictions
Imperial Oil, an Exxon oil sands subsidiary, is planning to reduce its workforce by 20% in anticipation of lower oil prices brought on by an expected supply overhang next year. According to a company statement, Imperial Oil will “consolidate activities to its operating sites” over the next two years, enhance “collaboration, operational focus and execution excellence. As a result of these changes, the company expects to record a one-time restructuring charge of approximately $330 million before-tax in the third quarter of 2025.”…
Categories: Oil news