President Trump has fired Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, citing alleged improprieties in her mortgage applications, in a stunning escalation of his campaign against the independence of the U.S. central bank. In a letter posted late Monday, Trump told Cook she was being removed “effective immediately,” arguing there was “sufficient reason” to believe she had falsified mortgage documents when purchasing homes in Michigan and Georgia in 2021. Trump invoked both the U.S. Constitution and the Federal Reserve Act, which allows…

Shares of Shuangdeng Group surged in their Hong Kong debut this week, underscoring investor enthusiasm for Chinese battery makers as demand for electric vehicles and energy storage continues to climb. Trading under the ticker 6960, the stock opened at HK$22.50, a 55% premium to its issue price of HK$14.51, making it one of the most successful IPOs in the city this year. Chairman Yang Rui celebrated the listing on August 26 by striking the ceremonial gong, declaring that Shuangdeng was “lucky to be riding two tremendous waves” - artificial…

Last week, oil traders cut their bullish bets on crude to the lowest in 16 years on expectations of a glut. Mostly because many forecasters were reporting a looming glut. Yet the moment something threatens any portion of the world’s oil supply, prices jump. So, where’s the glut? Mostly, the glut is in the forecasts published by the International Energy Agency and various net-zero organizations. The problem with these forecasts is that they often ignore data that contradicts their message that the transition to net zero is advancing.…

There has been much excitement in recent days among those who know nothing much worth knowing about the use that the long-running ban on oil sales from the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) to Turkey may be lifted soon. Supposedly, the government of the Erbil-based semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan (the KRG) and the Baghdad-based Federal Government of Iraq (FGI) have agreed on a new mechanism for oil exports from the Kurdistan Region to the Turkish port of Ceyhan. Under the agreement, 50,000 barrels per day (bpd) will be reserved for domestic use…

Plutonium material from dismantled U.S. nuclear warheads from the Cold War could be offered to American power firms as a fuel to potentially use in advanced nuclear technologies, under a draft plan of the Trump Administration.    The U.S. does not use plutonium in nuclear power facilities. In the past, plutonium has been converted into fuel for commercial reactors in the United States only for short test runs.  Now the Trump Administration, which looks to give impetus to nuclear energy, considers making available 20 metric tons…

U.S. President Donald Trump is taking India to task, and we are a long way from what then-President Barack Obama called a "defining partnership of the 21st century." But India’s neighbor, and enemy, and America’s frenemy, escaped Trump’s ire. Why? Despite a successful visit to India by Vice-President J.D. Vance in April 2025, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the White House in February 2025, Trump hit India, America’s #12 trade partner, with two rounds of 25% tariffs. (Pakistan’s tariff of 19%,…

Multiple factors have led developers to abandon announced low-carbon hydrogen projects. Strategy pivot is top among them, accounting for 48% of cancelled capacity (24% of project count) and around 6 million tpa of hydrogen capacity. Developers are reconsidering commitments made during the sector’s early, optimistic phase and now are strategically pivoting back towards their core businesses, opting to scale down risky hydrogen investments in favor of more reliable returns. For example, BP and Australia’s Origin Energy have suspended…

Pakistan is preparing to ask Qatar to defer long-term liquefied natural gas (LNG) deliveries as weak domestic demand collides with a heavy import schedule, according to local press and Bloomberg reporting. The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) last week authorized the Petroleum Division to renegotiate contract terms, potentially pushing back obligations covering 177 cargoes between 2025 and 2031. The ECC decision reflects mounting pressure on Islamabad’s foreign exchange reserves and a $5.6 billion burden tied to the existing purchase…

Pakistan is preparing to ask Qatar to defer long-term liquefied natural gas (LNG) deliveries as weak domestic demand collides with a heavy import schedule, according to local press and Bloomberg reporting. The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) last week authorized the Petroleum Division to renegotiate contract terms, potentially pushing back obligations covering 177 cargoes between 2025 and 2031. The ECC decision reflects mounting pressure on Islamabad’s foreign exchange reserves and a $5.6 billion burden tied to the existing purchase…

Via Metal Miner The Global Precious Metals MMI (Monthly Metals Index) finally lost bullish steam and moved sideways, rising only 0.81%. The past month has seen significant swings in precious metals prices. Safe-haven demand drove several metals to multi-year highs in late July, followed by partial pullbacks in August as market winds shifted. Gold and silver, in particular, rallied on economic uncertainty, with gold briefly hitting record territory and silver reaching levels unseen since 2011. Precious metal trends and hedging advice is covered…

U.S. natural gas consumption is on track to set a new record in 2025, according to the Energy Information Administration. In its latest Short-Term Energy Outlook, the agency projected demand will average 91.4 billion cubic feet per day, up from 90.5 bcf/d in 2024. January usage climbed to 126.8 bcf/d, 5% higher than the same month a year earlier, reflecting colder conditions and steady heating requirements. Natural gas continues to show strong resilience. Despite rapid additions of renewable generation, natural gas remains the dominant fuel for…

Donald Trump has blindsided UK manufacturers by slapping fresh tariffs of up to 25 per cent on more than 400 categories of British goods, from shampoo and children’s highchairs to motorcycles and diggers. Conservative shadow trade secretary Andrew Griffith accused ministers of failing to protect exporters, saying: “When it comes to protecting UK businesses from US tariffs, Starmer is ‘all hat, no cattle’.” “His ‘tiny tariff’ agreement turns out to have more holes than one of Donald Trump’s golf…

Kazakhstan insists that the international oil majors pay a hefty $4.4 billion fine for sulfur pollution despite a court win for Big Oil earlier this month. At the beginning of August, a Kazakh appellate court sided with the international oil majors operating the huge Kashagan oilfield, overturning the massive environmental fine over sulfur storage practices. The North Caspian Operating Company (NCOC)—a consortium that includes Eni, Shell, ExxonMobil, and TotalEnergies—hailed the decision as confirmation that their sulfur handling…

Kazakhstan insists that the international oil majors pay a hefty $4.4 billion fine for sulfur pollution despite a court win for Big Oil earlier this month. At the beginning of August, a Kazakh appellate court sided with the international oil majors operating the huge Kashagan oilfield, overturning the massive environmental fine over sulfur storage practices. The North Caspian Operating Company (NCOC)—a consortium that includes Eni, Shell, ExxonMobil, and TotalEnergies—hailed the decision as confirmation that their sulfur handling…

Crude prices moved higher in early Monday trade, with macro tailwinds from a more dovish U.S. Federal Reserve and fresh supply jitters after Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian energy infrastructure. The U.S. Benchmark, West Texas Intermediate (WTI), climbed to its highest in three weeks, while Brent crude has pushed above $68 per barrel as traders priced a possible September rate cut following Jerome Powell’s remarks last week.  By 12:17 pm ET, Brent was up 1.71% at $68.89, with WTI gaining  1.95% to $64.90 on expectations of easing…

Crude prices moved higher in early Monday trade, with macro tailwinds from a more dovish U.S. Federal Reserve and fresh supply jitters after Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian energy infrastructure. The U.S. Benchmark, West Texas Intermediate (WTI), climbed to its highest in three weeks, while Brent crude has pushed above $68 per barrel as traders priced a possible September rate cut following Jerome Powell’s remarks last week.  By 12:17 pm ET, Brent was up 1.71% at $68.89, with WTI gaining  1.95% to $64.90 on expectations of easing…

Crude prices moved higher in early Monday trade, with macro tailwinds from a more dovish U.S. Federal Reserve and fresh supply jitters after Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian energy infrastructure. The U.S. Benchmark, West Texas Intermediate (WTI), climbed to its highest in three weeks, while Brent crude has pushed above $68 per barrel as traders priced a possible September rate cut following Jerome Powell’s remarks last week.  By 12:17 pm ET, Brent was up 1.71% at $68.89, with WTI gaining  1.95% to $64.90 on expectations of easing…

A team of Goldman analysts led by Brian Singer reaffirmed his bullish view on U.S. power-sector Green Capex after the IRS recently clarified eligibility rules for solar and wind tax credits under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). The new "physical work" test replaces the prior 5% capex rule but is not expected to constrain utility-scale solar and onshore wind projects that much. "While the OBBBA should meaningfully reduce government outlay initially meant to stimulate diverse sources of Green Capex, we continue to see resilient levels of…

Officials in Tbilisi are cheering US President Donald Trump’s peace plan for Armenia and Azerbaijan, even though the creation of a new transit corridor envisioned under the deal threatens to relegate Georgia to geopolitical and economic irrelevance in the eyes of the West. Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze hailed the provisional Armenian-Azerbaijani accord soon after it was signed at the White House on August 8, describing it as a “landmark peace deal and opening a new era of stability and economic development in the region.”…

Despite providing most of the growth in global supply over the last decade or so, U.S. shale producers are subject to the effects of the whims of OPEC+, and Saudi Arabia in particular. Their decision to rapidly unwind previous output cuts has put over 2 mm BOPD on the market in a very short period, and resulted in a global stock build that's just knocked the stuffing out of oil prices. We've seen this movie before and it always ends up in the same place. A big "lake" of oil that takes a year or so to work off, and as traders adopt a posture that…