The last time the oil industry chased a frontier like this, it changed the map of global energy. In 1968, a wildcat well on Alaska’s North Slope unlocked Prudhoe Bay, the largest oil field ever discovered in the United States. In 2015, Exxon drilled a well offshore Guyana that opened the Stabroek Block, now estimated to hold more than 11 billion barrels of recoverable oil. Both discoveries started the same way: a small group of geologists drilling a well in a place most of the industry had already written off. A company called Greenland Energy…

Tankers carrying jet fuel and diesel have sharply diverted toward Asia and away from their initial destinations in the west as the world’s most important oil-consuming region is grappling with a supply crunch amid halted traffic at the Strait of Hormuz.   At least five vessels with diesel and jet fuel cargoes originating from the Gulf and India have made a U-turn near Africa’s southeast coasts and are now signaling their destinations are in Asia, tanker-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg showed on Monday.  In recent…

Iran marked the first hours after the naming of Mojtaba Khamenei as supreme leader by launching missiles and drones at Israel and Gulf Arab states, who have begun expressing increasing anger over Tehran’s retaliatory strikes. "Iran fires first wave of missiles under the leadership of Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei toward occupied territories," Iranian state broadcaster IRIB said on Telegram early on March 9. The post carried a photo showing a projectile with the words: "At Your Command, Sayyid Mojtaba." The broadcaster said there were…

Saudi Aramco has begun reducing oil production at two of its fields as the disruption around the Strait of Hormuz starts to choke off crude exports across the Gulf, according to sources cited by Reuters on Monday. The move comes just hours before the Saudi oil giant is due to report its 2025 earnings on Tuesday, placing the focus squarely on whether the world’s largest oil exporter can keep crude moving during the escalating U.S.-Israeli war with Iran. It was not immediately clear which oilfields were affected or how much production had been…

1m ago 9:56pm CST Israel Launches New Strikes in Iran and Lebanon Israel has launched a new wave of strikes against targets in Iran and Lebanon as the conflict continues to escalate. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it began “an additional wave of strikes” targeting infrastructure linked to the Iranian regime in central Iran. Israeli officials said the strikes are part of ongoing operations aimed at Iranian military and command infrastructure. In Beirut, the IDF said it also struck infrastructure belonging to the Iran-backed militant…

Oil prices surged in early Asian trading on Monday, breaking above $100 per barrel for the first time in nearly four years as the Iran conflict escalated and Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei was chosen as supreme leader. At the time of writing, WTI crude was trading at $108.66, up $17.76 or 19.54%, while Brent crude was at $108.69, up $16.00 or 17.26%. The rally follows a dramatic escalation in the conflict between Iran, the United States, and Israel over the weekend, with attacks on energy infrastructure and military targets across the region heightening…

Oil prices surged in early Asian trading on Monday, breaking above $100 per barrel for the first time in nearly four years as the Iran conflict escalated and Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei was chosen as supreme leader. At the time of writing, WTI crude was trading at $108.66, up $17.76 or 19.54%, while Brent crude was at $108.69, up $16.00 or 17.26%. The rally follows a dramatic escalation in the conflict between Iran, the United States, and Israel over the weekend, with attacks on energy infrastructure and military targets across the region heightening…

Oil prices surged in early Asian trading on Monday, breaking above $100 per barrel for the first time in nearly four years as the Iran conflict escalated and Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei was chosen as supreme leader. At the time of writing, WTI crude was trading at $108.66, up $17.76 or 19.54%, while Brent crude was at $108.69, up $16.00 or 17.26%. The rally follows a dramatic escalation in the conflict between Iran, the United States, and Israel over the weekend, with attacks on energy infrastructure and military targets across the region heightening…

Back in September 2025, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia signed the Strategic Mutual Defence Agreement (SMDA), a landmark pact elevating their security cooperation to a formal alliance. The agreement dictates that an attack on one nation is considered an attack on both, potentially extending Pakistan's nuclear umbrella to Saudi Arabia and strengthening joint military intervention. The pact alters the regional security architecture, particularly affecting Iran, India, and Israel, while potentially signaling a shift in Saudi reliance away from the U.S.…

The European Union’s gas in storage levels are below 30%, benchmark gas prices are the highest in over a year, and QatarEnergy just shut down the world’s single biggest LNG production facility. The situation looks like a recipe for disaster, and the chances of a painless solution are slim. EU’s benchmark natural gas price has gained as much as 60% since the United States and Israel started bombing Iran on Saturday, and while some of these gains were erased this week, significant upside potential remains. Not only has QatarEnergy…

Solar power is on a meteoric rise around the world. Over the next five years, solar photovoltaics will account for an astonishing 80 percent of new renewable power additions, according to estimates from the International Energy Agency. And that will amount to a whole lot of added capacity on a global scale. Despite a pivot away from clean energy in some policy spheres, renewables have simply become too cheap to fail, and installations are expected to more than double by 2030. A huge amount of the world’s installed solar pv growth has been…

Rural electric cooperatives may be next in line for meaningful disruption from lower-cost, renewable power generation technologies such as wind and solar.  The co-operative movement, a creation of FDR's New Deal, has survived the past ninety six years with a simple mandate: provide low-cost, reliable electricity in under-served rural areas. From a business perspective rural electrification always seemed like a terrible idea. The electric utility has to spend prodigiously on poles and wires for a sparsely populated area with a few customers…

Cuba has long been suffering from an energy crisis, with residents facing regular blackouts, which has been exacerbated by the recent United States intervention in Venezuela and the halt of critical energy exports to Cuba. Now, the island nation is assessing a potential future in renewables to diversify its energy mix and boost security.  In February, Cuba’s energy crisis deepened as fuel rationing was implemented, following U.S. President Trump’s campaign to provoke regime change by cutting off the island’s energy supply,…

Argentina has become a major mining hotspot in recent years, as energy firms eye the South American country’s vast critical mineral reserves and build upon its strong mining reputation. In addition to lithium and copper, companies are showing interest in Argentina’s uranium reserves, particularly as several governments worldwide look to rapidly develop their nuclear energy capacity. However, many Argentinians are less enthusiastic about the prospect of uranium mining.  Argentina’s uranium resources total roughly 10,500 tonnes…

The conflict in Iran is unlikely to lead to 1970s-style oil rationing, but policymakers must use price mechanisms and encourage domestic energy investment to insure against unpredictable escalations, says Andy Mayer In 1979 the Iranian Revolution sparked the ‘second oil crisis’ as the price of crude oil more than doubled to $40 per barrel. Although global production only fell four per cent, then seven per cent during the following year’s Iran-Iraq war, it took time for policy and global supply chains to adjust. The price shock…

Interest in Virtual Power Plants (VPPs) is increasing across the United States. A VPP relies on the combined power of various renewable energy projects, such as home or small-scale solar and wind power projects. Solar panels and home batteries have significantly increased in popularity in recent years, as people look to drive down energy bills, as well as switch to green energy.  VPPs are networks of small energy-producing or storage devices, which, together, provide power to the electricity grid. Utilities are increasingly partnering with…

As things continue to pop off in the Middle East, the United States is still focused on Venezuela - and has brokered a multimillion-dollar gold deal.  The agreement, first reported by Axios, involves the sale of between 650 and 1,000 kilograms of gold doré bars - which are semi-refined with approximately 98% gold content - from Venezuela's state-owned mining company, Minerven, to the global commodities trader Trafigura. The gold is destined for refineries in the United States, marking a shift in Venezuela's resource exports toward American…

A few years ago, I analyzed the growth of world energy consumption, breaking it down into (a) the growth in energy consumption needed to support the growth in world population, and (b) the growth in energy consumption available to support higher standards of living. This analysis covered the period 1820 to 2020. I found that periods of low growth tended to coincide with wars, depressions, and collapses. This is not surprising in a world economy governed by the laws of physics. Every part of the economy requires adequate energy of appropriate…

Following the United States intervention in Venezuela on 3rd January, which brought an end to President Nicolás Maduro’s 13-year dictatorship, all eyes have been on the South American country’s oil industry. Once one of the world’s biggest oil producers, output has waned in recent years. However, with U.S. President Trump setting his sights on Venezuelan crude, many are speculating just how quickly its resources can be tapped. While the focus is on Venezuela’s potential as an oil power, others think that more immediate…

Azerbaijan risks getting sucked into a widening Middle East conflict after Iran conducted a drone attack March 5 on the Nakhchivan exclave, wounding four civilians.  One of four drones targeting Nakhchivan, a territory sitting on Iran’s northern border, hit a terminal at the region’s airport. Another narrowly missed a school building, according to a statement issued by Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry. Azerbaijani anti-air defenses shot down one of the drones, the statement added. Iran has denied initiating any attack against…