Faced with numerous headwinds, Ørsted will slash its workforce numbers by 2,000 by 2027, eliminating a quarter of its current roles, the world’s largest offshore wind developer said on Thursday.   Fresh off its $9.35 billion rights issue to raise funds from existing shareholders, Ørsted announced today it is taking another step in the execution of its strategic priorities by reducing its organization by about 2,000 positions by the end of 2027.??  The company will slash jobs as it will focus more on Europe and…

Faced with numerous headwinds, Ørsted will slash its workforce numbers by 2,000 by 2027, eliminating a quarter of its current roles, the world’s largest offshore wind developer said on Thursday.   Fresh off its $9.35 billion rights issue to raise funds from existing shareholders, Ørsted announced today it is taking another step in the execution of its strategic priorities by reducing its organization by about 2,000 positions by the end of 2027.??  The company will slash jobs as it will focus more on Europe and…

Energy prices for consumers across the UK rose again this month.   Ofgem, the energy regulator, set the maximum annual rate for an average household for gas and electricity at £1,755 until the end of the year.  The cap is now over £600 higher than when it was first introduced in 2019.  Under the cap, the average price of gas is significantly cheaper than electricity at 6.3p per kilowatt hour (p/kWh) compared to 25.7p/kWh. New data on Tuesday also showed that the industrial electricity price paid for UK industry was…

BP has started up the Murlach oil and gas field in the UK North Sea, the sixth major project the supermajor has launched so far this year, as part of its goal to have ten new oil and gas fields operational by 2027.  Murlach adds a peak net production of around 15,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boed) to the BP-operated Eastern Trough Area Project (ETAP) in the central North Sea, a hub that has been operating for 27 years, the supermajor said on Thursday.  The Murlach project received government and regulatory approvals in 2023…

The amount of oil on tankers in transit has jumped to the highest since 2016, and this is cause for concern because it means there is too much oil around and it is not being consumed. That’s the message that Bloomberg had this week, citing Votexa data. Yet China had a different message: it is building more oil tanks to boost its inventories, a lot more. And that tells a different message. The Vortexa data that Bloomberg cited said that there were 1.2 billion barrels of crude oil currently at sea, being moved from one place to another. Bloomberg’s…

In the Permian Basin, oilfield theft has evolved from stolen wrenches to stolen tankers. What was once a nuisance crime is now a multimillion-dollar operation, prompting Texas to step in with a dedicated task force to combat organized petroleum theft. Texas producer associations and law enforcement have noticed in recent months a surge in organized crime at the numerous oilfield sites in the most prolific oil-producing basin in America. The state legislature earlier this year passed a bill to crack down on Permian Basin oil theft, mandating the…

Back in May, we reported that China is on the way to becoming the world’s first ‘‘electrostate’’ thanks to the ongoing EV boom coupled with rapid industrial electrification. According to a study by the International Energy Agency (IEA), China’s electrification rate has hit 30%, significantly ahead of the U.S. and the EU, where the electrification rate has plateaued at ~22% in recent years. Last year, electric vehicles (EVs) made up approximately 47.9% of the total passenger car sales in China, a huge increase…

Ecuador’s oil industry is caught in a death spiral. Decades of corruption, dwindling private investment, corroded infrastructure and environmental disasters are all weighing on production and reserves growth. Environmentally damaging oil spills are a common occurrence, with evidence suggesting that the national government in Quito is failing to prevent these harmful events. President Daniel Noboa’s commitment to reviving the economically crucial oil industry risks serious pollution, especially with cocaine related violence distracting…

This week, the Nobel Prize in Physics, the most prestigious award of its kind, was given for breakthrough work on quantum mechanics, emphasizing just how critical the field has become in building our understanding of the world around us, and how we can harness that understanding to design a smarter and more sustainable future. Quantum mechanics have already fundamentally changed the way we live, enabling the advent of cellphones, cameras, and fiber optic cables. And they will continue to change the world in ways that we haven’t even dreamed…

Guyana has strengthened military cooperation with France to safeguard the oil-rich Essequibo region, escalating tensions with Venezuela just as the United States expands maritime strikes on vessels linked to Caracas. The defense announcement follows new reports of French assistance in surveillance and air patrols over Guyana’s western frontier, where ExxonMobil-led production continues to rise above 640,000 barrels per day, UPI reported.  Venezuela maintains its long-standing claim over Essequibo, an area that encompasses most of Guyana’s…

Russian President Vladimir Putin last week signed a decree that appears to target the assets of foreign companies that continue to operate in Russia and that have not yet been seized by the government. The decree calls for the accelerated privatization of state property to ensure defense capability, but it refers directly to "unfriendly actions" of the United States and other countries and organizations aligned with them that aim to impose "restrictive measures against citizens of the Russian Federation and Russian legal entities.” The decree…

French state utility EDF is in talks with banks about a potential initial public offering of its Italian subsidiary Edison, according to sources cited by Reuters, in a move that could unlock billions in capital as EDF ramps up financing for its nuclear revival at home. EDF has begun sounding out major European lenders including BNP Paribas and Société Générale to assess investor appetite for a Milan listing that would value Edison between €7 billion and €10 billion ($8-11 billion). The group would likely retain…

A new survey published by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development offers a strong near-term economic outlook for Central Asian states. But the bank adds that the region is prone to fluctuations in commodity prices, reliance on remittances, and dependence on Russian and Chinese markets. The EBRD’s Regional Economic Prospects 2025 edition projects regional growth this year to reach 6.1 percent, and slow to 5.2 percent in 2026. “Central Asia Central Asian economies continued to post solid growth in the…

The Rare Earths MMI (Monthly Metals Index) moved sideways from September to October, rising by 2.13%. Over the last two weeks, U.S. officials have signaled a decisive shift in how they secure critical minerals. Analysts have taken note of large global rare earths projects aimed at diversifying away from Chinese dominance, which currently accounts for approximately 90% of rare earth processing capacity.  How is USA Rare Earth Reshaping the Supply Chain? U.S.-listed USA Rare Earth (USAR) is currently pursuing its own mine-to-magnet strategy.…

Gold prices were surging above $4,000 per ounce on Tuesday for the first time ever, as escalating political tension in the United States and renewed fears over global financial stability drove investors out of risk assets and into safe havens. Spot gold jumped more than 3% in intraday trading, building on a rally that has lifted the metal over 50% since January. The latest rally comes as markets brace for potential Federal Reserve rate cuts later this year and as investors increasingly view bullion as a hedge against policy and geopolitical chaos. …

Cenovus Energy is raising its takeover bid for MEG Energy in the best and final offer to buy the company that has seen rival bids from Cenovus and Strathcona Resources in recent months.  Cenovus announced on Wednesday a sweetened offer for MEG Energy shareholders, which values the target company at US$6.16 billion (C$8.6 billion) including debt.   The fully pro-rated consideration for MEG represents a value of approximately US$21.37 (C$29.80) per MEG share at Cenovus’s closing share price on October 7, 2025, an increase of…

Cenovus Energy is raising its takeover bid for MEG Energy in the best and final offer to buy the company that has seen rival bids from Cenovus and Strathcona Resources in recent months.  Cenovus announced on Wednesday a sweetened offer for MEG Energy shareholders, which values the target company at US$6.16 billion (C$8.6 billion) including debt.   The fully pro-rated consideration for MEG represents a value of approximately US$21.37 (C$29.80) per MEG share at Cenovus’s closing share price on October 7, 2025, an increase of…

Australia’s role as a resource powerhouse is changing due to global economic forces beyond its control: the fall in oil prices and the record-smashing increase in the price of gold. The country and continent are rich in deposits of iron ore, its number one export, as well as copper, coal, aluminum, lithium and natural gas. Australia also has vast reserves of gold, found for example at the Boddington open-pit mine in Western Australia owned by US-based miner Newmont; the Cadia mine in New South Wales known for its gold and copper production;…

Crude oil inventories in the United States increased by 3.7 million barrels during the week ending October 3, after gaining 1.8 million barrels in the week prior, according to new data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released on Wednesday. The increase brings commercial stockpiles to 420.3 million barrels according to government data, which is still 4% 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…

Russia has raised its oil production close to the ceiling in the OPEC+ deal, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on Wednesday.  “Production is growing... Just as we are unable to decrease it quickly, we are increasing it steadily. We will fulfil our quota,” Russian news agency Interfax quoted Novak as saying.  Russia’s oil production in August was about 90,000 barrels per day (bpd) below its OPEC+ quota.   Russia’s oil production averaged 9.173 million bpd in August, compared to the 9.259…