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…

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…

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…

Natural gas-rich Turkmenistan wants to join a regional green-energy trend. Officials have announced that construction of an energy-efficient power plant on the Caspian shoreline is underway, adding that the facility aims to produce enough electricity to meet domestic needs and export excess power westward. Turkmen Energy Minister Annageldi Saparov, speaking at an economic forum on November 3, revealed that a combined-cycle power plant with a projected annual generating capacity of almost 1.6 gigawatts is in the works at…

The new government's Climate Competitiveness Strategy, outlined in Budget 2025, will prioritize effective carbon markets, enhanced methane regulations, and technologies such as carbon capture and storage as the primary means to reduce oil and gas emissions.Canada’s federal government is signaling it plans to scrap the previous cabinet’s controversial emissions cap plan, which had put former PM Justin Trudeau on a collision course with the provincial government of oil-producing Alberta.  The former government of Justin Trudeau last…

The new government's Climate Competitiveness Strategy, outlined in Budget 2025, will prioritize effective carbon markets, enhanced methane regulations, and technologies such as carbon capture and storage as the primary means to reduce oil and gas emissions.Canada’s federal government is signaling it plans to scrap the previous cabinet’s controversial emissions cap plan, which had put former PM Justin Trudeau on a collision course with the provincial government of oil-producing Alberta.  The former government of Justin Trudeau last…

The new government's Climate Competitiveness Strategy, outlined in Budget 2025, will prioritize effective carbon markets, enhanced methane regulations, and technologies such as carbon capture and storage as the primary means to reduce oil and gas emissions.Canada’s federal government is signaling it plans to scrap the previous cabinet’s controversial emissions cap plan, which had put former PM Justin Trudeau on a collision course with the provincial government of oil-producing Alberta.  The former government of Justin Trudeau last…

Will climate negotiations move beyond voluntary pledges to establish clear regulatory mandates and carbon pricing signals that reflect the environmental costs of computation? Global leaders will be compelled to adopt a dual perspective – acknowledging AI’s profound potential as a climate-action accelerator while confronting its rapidly expanding environmental footprint and the need for a robust global governance framework.  AI is the single biggest driver of new electricity demand  With both foremost world…

For months, the oil market has been bracing itself for a looming large oversupply. Forecasters, investment banks, and analysts expect the overhang to depress oil prices at the end of this year and early next year as inventory builds begin to show up at the key pricing hubs.   The consensus appears to be that a glut will soon overwhelm the market. But estimates on how big the overhang will be vary, ranging from a super-glut of record proportions to more modest inventory increases in the historically weaker demand period in the first quarter…

Pakistan has received bids for 23 of the 40 offshore oil blocks it offered in its first bidding round in 18 years, marking a significant increase in investor interest in the country's energy sector. The government awarded the offshore blocks to four consortiums, led by major local energy companies such as state-run Oil and Gas Development Co. Ltd (OGDCL), Pakistan Petroleum Ltd (PPL) and MariEnergies, as well as Turkey's national oil company, Türkiye Petrolleri Anonim Ortakl (TPAO).  The Turkish energy giant signed a joint bidding agreement…