Sales of electric vehicles have been slowing down across markets, but one man believes the future remains bright. That man is Kazakh millionaire Kenges Rakishev, who made his money from oil and gas and metals, and now wants a piece of the EV pie. “The West is lagging behind China when it comes to the EV race,” Rakishev, chairman of Fincraft Group, told the South China Morning Post in an interview. “China started to secure supplies of lithium, cobalt, and graphite decades ago, and they are racing ahead when it comes to the price…

The current year’s CERAWeek by S&P Global conference kicked off in U.S. metropolis of Houston on Monday, with the energy sector’s most influential annual forum expected to convene over 450 C-Suite executives, 80 ministers and top officials and more than 10,000 participants from over 2,050 companies across 80 countries and regions. With the theme of "Moving Ahead: Energy strategies for a complex world," CERAWeek 2025 will address challenges related to energy security, supply, developments in markets, infrastructure, policy direction,…

President Donald Trump’s newly imposed 25% tariffs on goods from Mexico and a 10% tariff on energy products from Canada have the potential to send ripples through the U.S. oil and gas market.  These tariffs, effective March 4, come after last-minute negotiations failed, raising concerns about higher costs for refiners and potential disruptions to North America’s tightly integrated energy supply chains. How Canadian Oil Tariffs Could Disrupt U.S. Refiners The U.S. imports approximately 4.4 million barrels per day (MMb/d) of crude…

The American Petroleum Institute (API) estimated that crude oil inventories in the United States rose by 4.247 million barrels for the week ending March 7. Analysts had expected a 2.1 million-barrel build. So far this year, crude oil inventories have climbed nearly 17 million barrels, according to Oilprice calculations of API data. Earlier this week, the Department of Energy (DoE) reported that crude oil inventories in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) climbed 0.3 million barrels to 395.6 million barrels in the week ending March 7. Inventory…

In a time of extreme contention and relentless flux in United States politics, at least one thing appears to be a consistent bipartisan priority: defending the nation’s position as the world’s premier nuclear energy producer and expanding the nation’s presence in the global nuclear energy marketplace. Nuclear energy is currently undergoing an international renaissance as energy demand continues to balloon and decarbonization goalposts draw nearer. As developing countries continue to electrify and expand their economies in the…

The first half of 2025 is shaping up to be a squeeze play for global oil markets. Supply is tightening thanks to ongoing production declines in Iran and Venezuela. The result? Brent crude prices are inching up from $70 per barrel to a newly forecasted $75/b by Q3, the EIA has said in its latest Short Term Energy Outlook released on Tuesday. But don’t get too cozy with those numbers—by late 2025, oil inventories are expected to build, courtesy of OPEC+ unwinding its production cuts and non-OPEC countries pumping more. That means prices…

There's no telling exactly where the Trump administration's trade war is going as the president authorizes tariffs and then quickly suspends them, only to authorize them again and suspend them again or provide waivers for certain industries. While tariffs on narrowly defined categories of goods to guard against unfair competition may be workable, the administration's shotgun approach to tariffs risks a cutoff of strategic minerals that could strangle America's tech industry. As I've written before, the United States is dangerously dependent on…

Uzbekistan has announced a $2.6-billion initiative to develop the country’s substantial mineral resources, setting the Central Asian nation up to potentially become an important source of rare earths for US businesses.  During a March 7 presentation in Tashkent, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev announced a three-year investment plan to develop 76 projects covering 28 different elements used in the production of durable goods. Uzbekistan has identified significant deposits of critical minerals, such as tungsten, lithium, titanium and vanadium,…

Ukrainian forces hit and damaged the Moscow Oil Refinery and a Druzhba oil pipeline facility in Oryol Oblast in a fierce overnight drone attack on Monday, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces has reported. According to Ukrainian officials, the giant refinery--capable of processing 11 million metric tons of oil per year and covers nearly half of Moscow's gasoline and diesel supplies--was hit multiple times, although Gazprom Neft, which owns the refinery, didn’t respond to a Bloomberg request for a comment.  According to the General…

Science secretary Peter Kyle has hailed the UK space sector‘s recent achievement as proof that the UK is a “launchpad for innovation and investment”. The field has secured £80m more in European Space Agency (ESA) contracts than government contributions in late 2024, the highest return for any ESA member state. This success is set to add over £1bn to the UK economy and create 3,800 high skilled jobs, positioning Britain as a global leader in space innovation. Kyle said that the sector attracting top contracts is driving…

Oil prices rebounded and gained 1.6% early on Tuesday amid weakening U.S. dollar, following the broad market selloff on Monday triggered by fears of a recession in the United States. As of 9:56 a.m. ET, the front-month futures of the U.S. benchmark WTI Crude were trading 1.64% higher at $66.98 per barrel. The international benchmark, Brent Crude, was up by 1.5% to move back up above the $70 a barrel mark, at $70.24. On Monday, Brent prices slid below $70 amid the wider global meltdown in markets amid fears of a recession with the Trump Administration’s…

Oil prices rebounded and gained 1.6% early on Tuesday amid weakening U.S. dollar, following the broad market selloff on Monday triggered by fears of a recession in the United States. As of 9:56 a.m. ET, the front-month futures of the U.S. benchmark WTI Crude were trading 1.64% higher at $66.98 per barrel. The international benchmark, Brent Crude, was up by 1.5% to move back up above the $70 a barrel mark, at $70.24. On Monday, Brent prices slid below $70 amid the wider global meltdown in markets amid fears of a recession with the Trump Administration’s…

Uncertainty has been rife in oil markets of late as Trump's trade wars threaten global demand just as OPEC+ is set to boost supply and Ukraine peace talks get underway.- US Energy Secretary Chris Wright announced that he plans to work with the Congress to cancel the mandated sales of 100 million barrels of strategic petroleum reserves in 2026-2031 to refill SPR stock.- According to Wright, it would take 5-7 years to refill US strategic oil inventories at a cost of approximately $20 billion, boosting global crude demand by an additional 100,000…

ExxonMobil’s eighth oil project offshore Guyana will also be the biggest natural gas development of the Exxon-led consortium in the prolific Stabroek Block. Exxon and its partners in Guyana’s oil projects, U.S. Hess Corp and CNOOC of China, expect to produce up to 1.5 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) of natural gas and 290,000 barrels per day of condensate at the Longtail project, per the request for environmental authorization from Guyana seen by Reuters. Longtail, which will include the Longtail, Tripletail, and Turbot discoveries,…

Senior Ukrainian and US officials have begun a high-stakes meeting in Saudi Arabia, discussing how to end Russia's war against Ukraine amid recent tensions between Kyiv and Washington and intensifying fighting on the battlefield. Ukrainian delegation leader Andriy Yermak, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's chief of staff, said that "protection of Ukrainian interests" and "a clear vision of ending the war" were on Kyiv's agenda for the one-day talks in Jeddah on March 11. "A cease-fire in the three-year war the Russian Federation has waged on my country…

The world needs upstream investments in existing oil and gas fields to support global energy security, Fatih Birol, the executive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), said at the CERAWeek by S&P Global conference in Houston. The IEA famously said in 2021 that no investments in new oil and gas fields are needed if the world has a chance to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. The Paris-based agency has repeatedly said since 2021 that the world not need any new long lead-time conventional oil and gas projects or coal mines approved…

The world needs upstream investments in existing oil and gas fields to support global energy security, Fatih Birol, the executive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), said at the CERAWeek by S&P Global conference in Houston. The IEA famously said in 2021 that no investments in new oil and gas fields are needed if the world has a chance to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. The Paris-based agency has repeatedly said since 2021 that the world not need any new long lead-time conventional oil and gas projects or coal mines approved…

The Trump Administration is prepared to begin enforcing strictly the U.S. sanctions on Iran’s oil industry and exports, U.S. Secretary of Energy, Chris Wright, told Bloomberg at the CERAWeek by S&P Global conference. The U.S. has tightened sanctions on Iranian oil exports in recent months. The Biden Administration did so at the end of 2024, but the Trump Administration has already imposed two rounds of new sanctions, aimed especially at the shadow fleet facilitating Iranian oil exports to China. According to Secretary Wright, the Biden…

Indonesia is doubling to 1 million barrels per day (bpd) the planned capacity of the new refineries it will build in an effort to boost its energy security and downstream industry. The largest economy in Southeast Asia plans to build several refineries, including on the islands of Kalimantan and Sulawesi, with a total capacity of 1 million bpd, up from 500,000 bpd previously planned, Indonesia’s Energy Minister Bahlil Lahadalia said this week after a meeting with President Prabowo Subianto. To cover its domestic demand, Indonesia currently…

Indonesia is doubling to 1 million barrels per day (bpd) the planned capacity of the new refineries it will build in an effort to boost its energy security and downstream industry. The largest economy in Southeast Asia plans to build several refineries, including on the islands of Kalimantan and Sulawesi, with a total capacity of 1 million bpd, up from 500,000 bpd previously planned, Indonesia’s Energy Minister Bahlil Lahadalia said this week after a meeting with President Prabowo Subianto. To cover its domestic demand, Indonesia currently…