Oil prices have just come off a fresh two-month high as the crude oil market has tumbled this week amid signals of de-escalation in the U.S.-Iran conflict. Despite the slump in crude prices and the extreme volatility in the past five months, the refined product market continues to tighten with refining margins at record highs because the supply of petroleum products is much tighter than crude supply. Refining margins held at record highs even as crude oil prices soared last week to $100 per barrel. That’s because global gasoline, diesel,…

The American Petroleum Institute (API) estimated that crude oil inventories in the United States rose by 3.296 million barrels in the week ending July 24. In the week prior, US crude oil inventories grew by 2.603 million barrels. Commercial crude oil inventories excluding the SPR have lost just over 54 million barrels over the last fifteen weeks, with US crude inventories down just 3 million for the year, according to API data, kept in check by draws from the SPR. For the week ending July 24, another 3.7 million barrels left the SPR, bringing the…

The American Petroleum Institute (API) estimated that crude oil inventories in the United States rose by 3.296 million barrels in the week ending July 24. In the week prior, US crude oil inventories grew by 2.603 million barrels. Commercial crude oil inventories excluding the SPR have lost just over 54 million barrels over the last fifteen weeks, with US crude inventories down just 3 million for the year, according to API data, kept in check by draws from the SPR. For the week ending July 24, another 3.7 million barrels left the SPR, bringing the…

Solar power is far and away the cheapest form of new energy to install in nearly every context around the world. Even in the United States, where the cost of solar additions has jumped up 18 percent since Trump’s tariffs took hold, solar remains the most affordable option for energy capacity expansion. It stands to reason that solar is therefore the fastest growing form of energy in the world, However, as the solar sector has gone gangbusters, profitability has been squeezed thanks to an increasingly competitive market. Developing more advanced…

President Donald Trump revealed on Monday that sales of Venezuela’s oil by his administration have generated more than $13 billion since the capture of former President Nicolás Maduro on January 3, claiming that the revenue has effectively “paid for that war many times over”.  Speaking to reporters on Air Force One, Trump was responding to a Financial Times’ report that came out a week ago that estimated that roughly $13 billion in Venezuelan oil revenue is held in frozen U.S. Treasury accounts as a black box…

OPEC+ is preparing to approve one more production increase for September and then put the monthly quota parade on hold through the end of the year. Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, Kuwait, Algeria, Kazakhstan, and Oman are expected to raise their combined September target by about 188,000 barrels per day when they meet on August 2, sources told Reuters. That would match the increases announced for June, July, and August and complete the return of a 1.65-million-bpd voluntary cut agreed in 2023, adjusted for the UAE’s departure from OPEC in May.…

Saudi Aramco shut its 400,000-barrel-per-day Jazan refinery on July 27 after a Houthi attack damaged the facility, according to an IIR note seen by Reuters. IIR said the strike damaged the refinery’s Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle complex and tank farm. Repairs are tentatively expected to be completed by August 15. Tentatively is doing some fairly heroic work there. The attack took place Saturday, and video verified by Reuters showed a large plume of smoke rising from the refinery. Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the group…

Uzbekistan appears to be hedging its bets when it comes to Afghanistan’s ability to serve as a trade corridor. Over the past year, Tashkent has ramped up its engagement with Afghanistan, setting an ambitious target of almost tripling annual bilateral trade volume over the next few years. Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev also recently stated that the government was “actively working” with the Taliban leadership to create a trans-Afghan rail route to speed the flow of Uzbek goods to Pakistani seaports. But according…

Saudi Aramco shut its 400,000-barrel-per-day Jazan refinery on July 27 after a Houthi attack damaged the facility, according to an IIR note seen by Reuters. IIR said the strike damaged the refinery’s Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle complex and tank farm. Repairs are tentatively expected to be completed by August 15. Tentatively is doing some fairly heroic work there. The attack took place Saturday, and video verified by Reuters showed a large plume of smoke rising from the refinery. Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the group…

At the beginning of Donald Trump’s first term as U.S. President in 2017, a senior White House official commented off-the-record to OilPrice.com that: “We’re not going to put up with any more crap from the Saudis.” The comment had followed the end of the 2014-2016 Oil Price War that had seen the Kingdom rally its fellow OPEC members to ramp up their collective oil production in order to crash oil prices to cause the bankruptcy of as many American shale oil producers as possible, as analysed in depth in my latest book…

Investment in defence tech start-ups has reached a record high this year as the world’s biggest arms companies step up spending on new military technology. New figures from Dealroom show defence contractors including BAE Systems, Lockheed Martin and Airbus have participated in $4.1bn (£3bn) of venture capital funding rounds so far this year, the highest figure on record. Meanwhile, separate research from White & Case found 42 defence mergers and acquisitions were completed globally in the first half of 2026, up 56 per cent from…

The European Union could save a lot on LNG imports by 2030 if it achieves its heat pump, solar, and wind installation targets…so much so that the bloc could save twice the gas it imports from Qatar, the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) said on Tuesday. IEEFA, which advocates for an accelerated energy transition, estimates that heat pump deployment and increased solar and wind generation reduced the EU's natural gas demand by 8.8 bcm in 2024. That's equivalent to about two-thirds of EU imports of Qatari LNG that…

Trump's latest comments cooled oil prices, but talks over ending the Strait of Hormuz blockade could prove far more consequential. Hedge Funds Pile Back into Oil as Chokepoint Risks Return - The signing of the US-Iran Memorandum of Understanding triggered one of the largest hedge fund sell-offs for crude futures and options, however the closure of the Strait of Hormuz (and now of Bab el-Mandeb) has made bullishness in vogue again.   - Net positions held by hedge funds and other money managers in ICE Brent futures and options rebounded…

Tata Power, one of India’s biggest integrated power utilities, plans to build its first nuclear power plant by 2032 as the country opens the civil nuclear sector to private companies, CEO Praveer Sinha told Bloomberg Television in an interview on Tuesday. “What we can expect is that early part of 2028 we will start possibly the construction activity,” Sinha told Bloomberg. “We are targeting that 2032-2033, we will have the first of the nuclear plants ready in the private sector,” the executive added. Tata Power, which…

Tata Power, one of India’s biggest integrated power utilities, plans to build its first nuclear power plant by 2032 as the country opens the civil nuclear sector to private companies, CEO Praveer Sinha told Bloomberg Television in an interview on Tuesday. “What we can expect is that early part of 2028 we will start possibly the construction activity,” Sinha told Bloomberg. “We are targeting that 2032-2033, we will have the first of the nuclear plants ready in the private sector,” the executive added. Tata Power, which…

Tata Power, one of India’s biggest integrated power utilities, plans to build its first nuclear power plant by 2032 as the country opens the civil nuclear sector to private companies, CEO Praveer Sinha told Bloomberg Television in an interview on Tuesday. “What we can expect is that early part of 2028 we will start possibly the construction activity,” Sinha told Bloomberg. “We are targeting that 2032-2033, we will have the first of the nuclear plants ready in the private sector,” the executive added. Tata Power, which…

President Volodymyr Zelensky met British Prime Minister Andy Burnham on July 27 as he kicked off a key week of talks with officials around the world to bolster Ukraine's defenses amid a rising civilian death toll from Russian air strikes back home. Zelensky became the first foreign leader hosted by Burnham since he took office one week ago following the resignation of fellow Labour Party member Keir Starmer. The two leaders met at the Portsmouth Naval Base on England's southern coast as Burnham pledged his country's "unwavering" support for Kyiv…

The spike in oil prices and slowing private investments have been weighing on India’s economic growth, which is now seen at 6.6% in the fiscal year to March 2027, a full percentage-point drop from the 7.7% GDP growth in the prior fiscal year, a Reuters poll of economists showed on Tuesday. Nearly three dozen economists were surveyed between July 21 and 27 for the poll, in which some experts flagged weaker real economic activity than the headline figures have suggested in the past five months since the Middle East crisis erupted. The Indian…

The anti-government protests in Libya over power cuts and high electricity bills over the past few days escalated on Tuesday, with protesters entering the Mellitah Oil and Gas complex and threatening to halt gas and fuel supplies for both the domestic and international markets. Libya’s capital Tripoli has been the main stage of protests against the Government of National Unity led by Abdul Hamid Dbeibah. Protesters blocked streets and roads out of the capital earlier this week as a sign of protest against frequent and spreading power cuts…

In 1937, the Army guarded the first shipments of a critical resource, U.S. gold, as it was transferred into Fort Knox. Nearly 90 years later, Washington faces a similar situation with a very different resource. The Army picked REalloys (NASDAQ: ALOY) to build a facility to process dysprosium and terbium at Utah’s Tooele Army Depot - two rare earths that keep high-performance magnets working in weapons, radar, sonar and electric motors. Gold went to Fort Knox because America was unsure they could protect it from threats abroad. Rare earths…