While TC Energy slightly missed analyst estimates of its third-quarter earnings, the Canada-based pipeline operator expects North American natural gas demand to surge in the medium to long term, thanks to soaring U.S. LNG exports and “unprecedented power demand from data centres and coal-to-gas conversions.”   TC Energy has 58,100 miles of network of natural gas pipelines, which supplies more than 30% of the natural gas consumed daily across North America’s markets.  TC Energy also currently generates approximately…

A Ukrainian drone strike has knocked the Lukoil-operated Volgograd refinery offline, halting one of Russia’s largest fuel processing hubs as Ukraine continues with its campaign to take advantage of Moscow’s downstream vulnerability to long-range attacks.  The Thursday attack, confirmed by regional authorities and company sources, ignited fires in the refinery’s main crude distillation unit and hydrocracker, forcing a full suspension of operations pending assessment, according to Reuters.  The CDU-5 unit, which handles…

Suspected pirates boarded an oil tanker in the Indian Ocean off Somalia’s coast on Thursday as maritime security agencies flag renewed Somali pirate activity in the region. The Hellas Aphrodite oil tanker was illegally boarded on Thursday morning local time, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency said. The Master of the vessel has reported being approached by one small craft on its stern. The small craft fired small arms and RPGs towards the vessel. Unauthorized personnel of the small craft have boarded the vessel, UKMTO…

Canada’s Liberal government on Tuesday proposed a C$2 billion ($1.4 billion) sovereign fund for critical minerals, alongside hundreds of millions in new mining industry spending and an expansion of exploration tax credits, according to the federal budget released on April 1. The initiative aims to bolster domestic supply chains, attract global investment, and strengthen national security by securing a reliable supply of critcal minerals essential for defense, semiconductors, and clean energy technologies. Core Budget Measures Target Critical…

ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) on Thursday raised its quarterly dividend by 8% as it reported better-than-expected earnings for the third quarter.  ConocoPhillips, the biggest U.S. independent oil and gas producer, reported adjusted earnings of $2 billion for the third quarter, or $1.61 per share. The EPS easily beat the analyst consensus estimate of $1.41 earnings per share in The Wall Street Journal.   Higher oil and gas production and reduced costs helped ConocoPhillips partly offset the lower oil prices and price realizations.  …

ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) on Thursday raised its quarterly dividend by 8% as it reported better-than-expected earnings for the third quarter.  ConocoPhillips, the biggest U.S. independent oil and gas producer, reported adjusted earnings of $2 billion for the third quarter, or $1.61 per share. The EPS easily beat the analyst consensus estimate of $1.41 earnings per share in The Wall Street Journal.   Higher oil and gas production and reduced costs helped ConocoPhillips partly offset the lower oil prices and price realizations.  …

Central Asian leaders are traveling to Washington for a summit with President Donald Trump, carrying a diverse agenda that extends beyond trade topics.  Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev was the first regional leader to land in Washington, arriving on November 4. He was due to meet with US lawmakers and corporate executives on November 5 before participating the next day in the White House summit, which is occurring under the C5+1 format.  Trump is widely expected to focus summiteers’ attention on his pet issue – expanding US access to…

PetroChina plans to phase out production at 19 old and inefficient units across its refining and petrochemicals facilities as China looks to trim overcapacity that has weighed on the downstream sector.  PetroChina, the second-largest refiner in the country after Sinopec, will permanently shut an old refining and chemical unit that hasn’t met safety standards and will phase out additional 18 units with more than 20 years of operational life, analysts who attended PetroChina’s Q3 earnings call told Reuters on Thursday.  …

ExxonMobil is expanding its exploration portfolio offshore Greece with a new farm-in agreement for a block in the northwestern Ionian Sea.    ExxonMobil, Energean, and Helleniq Energy have reached a farm-in agreement under which the U.S. supermajor will buy 60% in the Block 2 concession in the northwestern Ionian Sea, next to the Italian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), Energean said on Thursday.    With Exxon farming-in in the block, Energean’s stake drops to 30%, down from 75%, and Helleniq Energy’s interest…

A month ago, global exports of liquefied natural gas hit an all-time high. They’re about to grow further, however, as winter in the northern hemisphere draws nearer and demand for heating soars. The first signs are already showing: LNG tanker rates are surging, gaining over 50% in the past week. A week ago, the average daily rate for a 174,000-cu m LNG carrier crossing the Atlantic stood at $39,750, Reuters reported, citing figures from pricing data provider Spark Commodities. This Monday, that daily average had surged to $61,750, before…

China has just unveiled a major breakthrough in nuclear reactor materials and technology that could pave the way to safer fission energy with less waste and no water use for cooling.     In April this year, Chinese scientists successfully added fresh fuel to an operational experimental thorium molten salt reactor in the Gobi Desert.  Six months later, the scientists from the Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences now announce they have converted thorium into uranium in the thorium molten…

Cold, dry Arctic air moving across the central and eastern US early next week will cause temperatures to drop to 10-15 degrees below average, according to the Weather Prediction Center. The chilly forecast is causing natural gas prices to spike, as the demand for heating fuel increase,s as it normally does this time of year.  Natural gas now provides about 40% of US electricity.  U.S. natural gas futures on Monday climbed above $4.30 per MMBtu, the highest since March. The colder forecast is one factor behind the price rise; the…

Global energy giant ExxonMobil reported third-quarter 2025 earnings last week. Those results delivered some eye-popping numbers for all the right reasons. The global energy supermajor announced a solid performance despite softer oil prices and a challenging operating environment. While Exxon’s Permian Basin assets are a key part of the story, Exxon’s Guyana operations are another important driver of this notable performance. Exxon made its first discovery in Guyana’s territorial waters in 2015 with the Liza-1 well in the 6.6-million-acre…

The Blue Whale project, a deepwater oil and gas exploration venture in the Ulleung Basin of the East Sea (also known as the Sea of Japan), has emerged as South Korea’s boldest yet also most uncertain bet on energy independence. Being the nation’s potentially first large-scale offshore hydrocarbon prospect, the field is believed to hold between 3.5 and 14 billion barrels of oil and gas – a wave of supply that could, if confirmed, satisfy up to 30 years of natural gas demand and 4 years of oil consumption. For a country that imports…

Iraq's parliamentary election on November 11 arrives as Tehran's regional hand weakens and the outcome could determine whether it preserves a vital anchor in its sphere of influence, financing, and deterrence or slides into a costlier, fragmented game of managing proxies from afar. With setbacks in Syria and growing constraints on Hezbollah -- designated a terror organization by the United States -- in Lebanon, Iraq has become the indispensable arena for safeguarding Tehran's regional depth, economic access, and deterrence architecture. "The parliamentary…

India’s state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has said it is prepared to restart upstream operations in Syria once “normalcy” returns, according to The National. Executives from ONGC Videsh Ltd, the company’s overseas arm, confirmed they are monitoring developments closely and would move to re-enter the Syrian sector if political stability and security conditions permit. The disclosure marks the first public signal in over a decade that ONGC could resume activities in Syria, where it previously held stakes in…

India’s state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has said it is prepared to restart upstream operations in Syria once “normalcy” returns, according to The National. Executives from ONGC Videsh Ltd, the company’s overseas arm, confirmed they are monitoring developments closely and would move to re-enter the Syrian sector if political stability and security conditions permit. The disclosure marks the first public signal in over a decade that ONGC could resume activities in Syria, where it previously held stakes in…

India’s state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has said it is prepared to restart upstream operations in Syria once “normalcy” returns, according to The National. Executives from ONGC Videsh Ltd, the company’s overseas arm, confirmed they are monitoring developments closely and would move to re-enter the Syrian sector if political stability and security conditions permit. The disclosure marks the first public signal in over a decade that ONGC could resume activities in Syria, where it previously held stakes in…

Norway has suspended the ethical investment rules governing its $2.1-trillion oil fund just weeks after signaling higher 2026 withdrawals, drawing a direct line between petroleum revenues and fiscal control. The Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG) move, as detailed by the Irish Times, is being described as an emergency measure to prevent forced equity sales that could shake global markets. Parliament has approved a temporary freeze on the fund’s Ethics Council, suspending new exclusion recommendations on human-rights and environmental grounds,…

Kazakhstan’s crude output fell 10% in October after maintenance curbed flows at the Chevron-led Tengiz field, according to an industry source cited by a Reuters report. Crude production averaged about 1.69 million barrels per day, while combined crude and condensate totaled 8.016 million metric tons, down from 8.345 million tons in September.  Work at Tengiz ran from early October through October 24 and reduced field output to roughly 725,000 barrels per day from about 964,000 barrels per day in September, the source said. Despite the…