For years, green hydrogen has been touted as a kind of silver bullet for decarbonization. Hydrogen can be combusted at high temperatures, making it a potential solution for cleaning up some of the dirtiest industrial sectors on earth, with the ability to replace thermal coal in steelmaking and heavy fuel oil in industrial shipping. But instead of releasing greenhouse gases when burned, hydrogen leaves behind nothing but water vapor. Green hydrogen has therefore been a subject of major buzz in the public and private sectors alike for its ability…

U.S. shale oil producers are boosting output in response to the energy crunch caused by the war in the Middle East. Exports are running at all-time highs. The media are celebrating the country’s energy dominance. But there are limits to what the U.S. energy industry can do and how long it can keep doing it. Drillers across the shale patch have been adding rigs again in what is an obvious sign of changing sentiment in an industry that has focused on caution and capital discipline for years now. But with the U.S.-Iran war driving benchmarks…

Britain is tightening another screw on its oil and gas sector, this time by closing a tax structure that officials say allowed multinational energy firms to sharply reduce taxes on profits generated from UK operations. Finance Minister Rachel Reeves said Thursday the government will end a practice allowing losses from foreign branches to offset taxable UK profits, a move she said was being used by some oil and gas companies to pay "little or no corporation tax" on British energy trading income. "Today we're putting an end to that practice," Reeves…

Norway’s oil industry is entering a new phase where infrastructure utilization, subsea tie-backs, and recovery rates could matter more than giant new discoveries. Equinor and Aker BP on Thursday released a new cooperation announcement aimed at deepening collaboration across parts of the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS). At first glance, the agreement looks highly technical. But the two companies said the cooperation is designed to accelerate developments, improve resource recovery, and unlock more value from existing offshore infrastructure.…

The oil market is heading into what Fatih Birol calls the "red zone" this summer. Speaking Thursday at Chatham House in London, Birol warned that rapidly falling inventories, missing Middle Eastern exports, and rising summer demand could push global oil markets into dangerous territory by July or August. "This may be difficult and we may be entering the red zone in July-August if we don't see some improvements," Birol said. And unlike some earlier warnings that felt a bit theoretical, the inventory data increasingly suggest he may actually have…

The oil market is heading into what Fatih Birol calls the "red zone" this summer. Speaking Thursday at Chatham House in London, Birol warned that rapidly falling inventories, missing Middle Eastern exports, and rising summer demand could push global oil markets into dangerous territory by July or August. "This may be difficult and we may be entering the red zone in July-August if we don't see some improvements," Birol said. And unlike some earlier warnings that felt a bit theoretical, the inventory data increasingly suggest he may actually have…

It still seems that oil markets are believing their own theories more than hard-hitting warnings from Arab national oil companies. Even with all signs on red, optimism still shows oil prices as depressed, not really reflecting reality at all. When Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company’s CEO, and more or less one of the most outspoken visionaries in the Gulf, publicly warns that oil flows from the Persian Gulf will remain severely disrupted until at least mid-2027, markets, traders, and financials should pay attention and act.…

Oil prices rose on Thursday as fresh signs of trouble in Iran peace talks as the parties hit a wall over enriched uranium. WTI crude climbed 2.2% to $100.40 while Brent gained 1.8% to $106.90 as reports emerged that Iran's Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, has drawn a hard line on one of Washington's key demands: the removal of Iran's stockpile of highly enriched uranium. According to Reuters, Khamenei issued a directive that near-weapons-grade uranium must remain inside Iran, complicating already fragile negotiations aimed at ending the U.S.-Israeli…

IBM and small-cap quantum names, including IonQ, D-Wave Quantum, Rigetti Computing, Infleqtion, and other peers, are surging in New York premarket trading after a Wall Street Journal report said the Trump administration is preparing to award $2 billion in CHIPS Act grants to nine quantum-computing companies. IBM is set to receive half of the $2 billion tranche, or about $1 billion, as the large-cap leader in the race to build quantum computing systems that could revolutionize national security, accelerate scientific discovery, and deliver a range…

Sir Keir Starmer has spelt out a number of policies to address fuel shortages, signalling the government’s fears that the Iran war could hit motorists and households.  During Prime Minister’s Questions, Starmer defended an announcement last year to “phase” new sanctions on Russia, while also trailing a policy to freeze a 5p fuel duty cut beyond September.  The government pledged to introduce a new sanction on oil and gas flows from Russia that passed through third countries, announcing the measure last October. …

China appears to continue sending crude into strategic and commercial reserves despite the plunge in its imports and the world’s biggest-ever supply shock. China likely sent 430,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude to reserves last month, according to estimates by Reuters columnist Clyde Russell based on official data about imports, refinery throughput, and domestic production. Unlike the United States, China does not report inventories. Analysts are looking at overall supply (domestic production plus imports) and refinery processing rates…

China appears to continue sending crude into strategic and commercial reserves despite the plunge in its imports and the world’s biggest-ever supply shock. China likely sent 430,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude to reserves last month, according to estimates by Reuters columnist Clyde Russell based on official data about imports, refinery throughput, and domestic production. Unlike the United States, China does not report inventories. Analysts are looking at overall supply (domestic production plus imports) and refinery processing rates…

As the United States continues to explore its vast geothermal potential, researchers are exploring the possibility of using abandoned oil wells to produce clean energy. A growing body of literature is emerging on the topic, with many hopeful scientists worldwide promoting the potential for well conversion for geothermal energy production.  Geothermal energy is produced by drilling into underground heat pockets in the Earth’s surface to access heat. The Earth’s core has a temperature of roughly 5,200°C, while rock and water…

Despite the lowest production and export volumes on record, Saudi Arabia saw the value of its oil exports surge by 37.4% in March to the highest level in three and a half years, data from Saudi Arabia’s General Authority for Statistics showed. The value of the Kingdom’s total merchandise exports rose by 21.5% in March 2026 from a year earlier, with oil exports surging by 37.4% as the soaring oil prices and the re-routing of crude exports to the Red Sea port Yanbu helped the world’s top crude exporter offset most of the traffic…

Despite the lowest production and export volumes on record, Saudi Arabia saw the value of its oil exports surge by 37.4% in March to the highest level in three and a half years, data from Saudi Arabia’s General Authority for Statistics showed. The value of the Kingdom’s total merchandise exports rose by 21.5% in March 2026 from a year earlier, with oil exports surging by 37.4% as the soaring oil prices and the re-routing of crude exports to the Red Sea port Yanbu helped the world’s top crude exporter offset most of the traffic…

Over two days, US President Donald Trump has repeatedly raised the prospect that the cease-fire with Iran will be broken by new US military strikes -- in comments that have drawn close scrutiny from analysts and policymakers. In a Truth Social post on May 18, Trump said the leaders of Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates had asked him to hold off on what he called a "planned military attack," scheduled for May 19, to allow diplomacy more time. On May 19, he said an attack may take place "Friday, Saturday, Sunday, something, ‌maybe…

Back in March, the 32 member countries of the International Energy Agency (IEA) unanimously pledged a record-breaking release of 400 million barrels of crude oil from their Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPR) shortly after Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz triggered oil price spikes, more than double the 182.7 million barrels released during the 2022 response to the Ukraine war. As usual, the United States shouldered the lion’s share of the release, committing to 172 million barrels. For the first batch, the Department of Energy…

Roughly one-fifth of global LNG flows has been impacted by the Hormuz crisis. The cumulative losses in crude oil supply have topped 1 billion barrels since the start of March. Governments are rationing fuel and advising conservation. Some are already predicting a complete transformation of global energy consumption patterns. But these predictions are a bit premature. Earlier this month, the International Energy Agency warned in its monthly oil report that the world’s oil supply this year will be 3.9 million barrels daily lower than it was…

Americans are commuting on the bus and train more and even turning toy cars into two-gallon cars to use for supermarket runs as the highest gasoline prices in four years are changing consumer behavior. With prices soaring to $95 to fill the tank of a Toyota Highlander, drivers are improvising with small toy cars or using public transportation in cities and for commuting, Reuters reports. While the surge in gasoline prices globally has spurred electric vehicle (EV) sales in Europe and Asia, the United States public is less inclined to buy an electric…

The United States Geological Survey has made a potentially game-changing discovery in the Appalachian region. New research suggests that the ancient mountain range may be home to over 300 years' worth of lithium resources, presenting a potentially critical opportunity for the United States to wean itself off of international lithium deposits and build up domestic lithium markets. Sometimes referred to as 'white gold', lithium has become increasingly ubiquitous and indispensable in global technological and clean energy supply chains. Lithium-ion…