Europe’s benchmark natural gas prices have eased from the three-year highs hit in March as reduced rates of withdrawal at the end of the heating season and news of the U.S.-Iran ceasefire calmed the extremely volatile gas market.   But the European market appears too complacent as the real stress test for Europe’s gas supply will unfold in the coming months, analysts say. The European Commission has warned that energy prices will remain elevated for months to come, regardless of ceasefires or an immediate unconditional reopening…

A widespread myth in energy circles is that U.S. refineries are “unable” to process the light, sweet crude produced by the shale boom. The claim tends to surface whenever gasoline prices rise or energy independence becomes a talking point. The argument is usually that the U.S. is producing record volumes of oil, yet still imports crude because its refineries were built for heavier foreign barrels. It’s a compelling narrative, but it’s mostly wrong. U.S. refineries can and do process shale crude every day. The issue isn’t…

The AI explosion is causing demand for energy to skyrocket around the world. The projections for the future of energy use by data centers are staggering, and the private and public sectors alike are rushing to get ahead of the issue. While Big Tech has thrown a lot of money – and a lot of PR – into expanding the development of current and next gen renewables to meet their ballooning energy needs, the tech sector is causing a lot of fossil fuels expansion, too, casting doubt on previously charted decarbonization timelines. Take Google,…

Fervo Energy and Turboden, part of the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Group, announced a three-year framework agreement to supply Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) turbines for up to 35 of Fervo’s standardized 50 MW GeoBlocks. The deal totals 1.7 gigawatts of carbon-free, dispatchable baseload power, marking a major step toward scaling next-generation geothermal across the United States. The agreement builds directly on an earlier pact covering three GeoBlocks at Fervo’s Cape Station project in Utah, where Phase I commissioning…

President Trump has floated the prospect of a “joint venture” with the Iranian leadership on administering a tax on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz in a new peace deal for the region. Trump said both the US and Iran could jointly tax ships passing through the stretch of water, which is critical for around a fifth of global crude oil supplies, with negotiations developing at a fast pace following the announcement of a two-week ceasefire. He told ABC News that it would be a “beautiful thing” for the two countries…

Mexico is considering a return to fracking as it looks to cut its heavy reliance on U.S. natural gas imports. President Claudia Sheinbaum said her government is evaluating the development of non-conventional gas resources, including shale, as the country continues to import the bulk of its supply. Mexico consumes roughly 9 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day, but produces just 2.3 billion cubic feet domestically. The rest—about 75% to 80%—comes from the United States, primarily Texas. That dependence is becoming harder to ignore.…

The Israeli Energy Ministry on Thursday announced it had instructed the company operating the platform at the offshore natural gas field Karish to restore operations following the announcement of the two-week U.S.-Iran ceasefire. The ministry has decided to instruct Energean to begin restoring the Karish rig off Israel’s Mediterranean coast into operation, after assessing the situation and taking into account all relevant considerations, Israel said today. Israel had ordered the Karish platform shut on February 28, when the U.S. and Israel…

The Israeli Energy Ministry on Thursday announced it had instructed the company operating the platform at the offshore natural gas field Karish to restore operations following the announcement of the two-week U.S.-Iran ceasefire. The ministry has decided to instruct Energean to begin restoring the Karish rig off Israel’s Mediterranean coast into operation, after assessing the situation and taking into account all relevant considerations, Israel said today. Israel had ordered the Karish platform shut on February 28, when the U.S. and Israel…

The Israeli Energy Ministry on Thursday announced it had instructed the company operating the platform at the offshore natural gas field Karish to restore operations following the announcement of the two-week U.S.-Iran ceasefire. The ministry has decided to instruct Energean to begin restoring the Karish rig off Israel’s Mediterranean coast into operation, after assessing the situation and taking into account all relevant considerations, Israel said today. Israel had ordered the Karish platform shut on February 28, when the U.S. and Israel…

The two-week US-Iran ceasefire announced overnight has taken the panic premium out of oil – but not the full risk premium. Prices are not snapping back to pre-war levels due to the scale of disruption and backlog-clearing mechanisms that will take some time to normalize. Futures have moved and, as a result, Rystad Energy has reduced its average Brent price from $97 to average $87 for 2026. However, the tightness in the physical barrels is unlikely to be cleared anytime soon. Oil plunged below US$100 per barrel after the US and Iran agreed…

The European Union is preparing to loosen methane rules on imported oil and gas as the bloc scrambles to secure supply in the wake of the U.S.-Iran war. Brussels is set to introduce “flexibilities” to its methane regulations, allowing importers to comply without tracing emissions data back to individual cargoes. Instead, countries exporting to the EU will only need to show that a sufficient share of their national production meets the standards, according to the European Commission. The change comes ahead of a 2027 expansion of the…

The European Union is preparing to loosen methane rules on imported oil and gas as the bloc scrambles to secure supply in the wake of the U.S.-Iran war. Brussels is set to introduce “flexibilities” to its methane regulations, allowing importers to comply without tracing emissions data back to individual cargoes. Instead, countries exporting to the EU will only need to show that a sufficient share of their national production meets the standards, according to the European Commission. The change comes ahead of a 2027 expansion of the…

U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports hit a record 11.7 million metric tons in March 2026, mainly driven by global panic buying and supply disruptions triggered by geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. Missile and drone attacks on Qatar's Ras Laffan Industrial City in March damaged critical infrastructure, forcing major outages and positioning the U.S. as a vital swing producer. LNG facilities in Louisiana handled roughly 1.8 million more metric tons in March 2026 compared to March 2025, with Louisiana currently handling ~61% of all U.S.…

India's Oil Minister Hardeep Puri is visiting Qatar on Thursday and Friday as India seeks to secure LNG and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) supply amid the fragile U.S.-Iran ceasefire. Puri will be on an official visit to the State of Qatar on April 9-10, 2026, India's Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas said in a statement early on Thursday. Puri is expected to press Qatari officials to prioritize supply of LNG and LPG, which is widely used as a cooking fuel in India, to the country, sources with knowledge of the matter told Bloomberg. India relies…

The fragile cease-fire between the United States and Iran could hang in the balance over what Washington has labeled a "misunderstanding" over whether the truce includes Israel’s offensive against Tehran-backed Hezbollah assets in Lebanon. US Vice President JD Vance, during a visit to Hungary on April 8, said he believes there was a "legitimate misunderstanding" about the terms of the truce announced the night before by President Donald Trump. "I think the ‌Iranians thought that the cease-fire included Lebanon, and it just didn't," he…

The state refiner of Taiwan and commodity trading giant Glencore have each booked a tanker to travel to the Middle East and load oil, in a sign that crude customers are hoping for a re-opening of the Strait of Hormuz after the announcement of the U.S.-Iran ceasefire. CPC, Taiwan's state refiner, has booked a tanker to load 2 million barrels of crude from the Middle East and bring it to Taiwan in the coming weeks, Taiwanese Economy Minister Kung Ming-hsin said on Thursday, as carried by Reuters. "If passage is possible within the next two weeks…

The state refiner of Taiwan and commodity trading giant Glencore have each booked a tanker to travel to the Middle East and load oil, in a sign that crude customers are hoping for a re-opening of the Strait of Hormuz after the announcement of the U.S.-Iran ceasefire. CPC, Taiwan's state refiner, has booked a tanker to load 2 million barrels of crude from the Middle East and bring it to Taiwan in the coming weeks, Taiwanese Economy Minister Kung Ming-hsin said on Thursday, as carried by Reuters. "If passage is possible within the next two weeks…

China is considering several ways to support financially its struggling airlines which are reeling from the oil and fuel supply and price shock due to the Middle East crisis. The Chinese authorities are discussing various forms of support, including government-back preferential loans, subsidies, and preferential tax treatment, sources with knowledge of the deliberations told Bloomberg on Thursday. The last time China had to help and basically bail out its biggest air carriers was during the Covid pandemic, which hurt Chinese airlines the most amid…

March has turned into a month of hard power tests for Iran – and so far, it has been quietly exceeding expectations. By effectively blocking the Strait of Hormuz to all but its own cargoes (or the ones that have received their approval), Tehran has demonstrated that the trajectory of the conflict is far from being dictated by its counterparts. Faced with the risk of acute shortages in medium-sour crude, the US administration has been forced into a partial sanctions retreat, allowing Iranian barrels already at sea to re-enter the market. The…

With fuel rationing beginning in some Asian countries and analysts warning Europe is next, talk has started about windfall profit taxes on Big Oil. The supermajors are the first target for additional taxes when oil prices surge, but they are not the only ones benefiting from such surges. This time around, the biggest winners are not just oil producers but oil producers with alternative export routes. The war that the United States and Israel started against Iran at the end of February has cost the Middle East’s petrostates some 11 million…