With oil and gas supply in a crunch, demand for alternatives has surged over the past two months. Analysts expect wind and solar to explode as countries seek to reduce their dependence on hydrocarbons that are now in short supply. For that to stand a chance of working, however, it needs one more thing: batteries. Cheap batteries. A team of Chinese scientists just announced a breakthrough in that area. The news broke earlier this week, with researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences saying they had developed what they called an “all-iron”…

Asia’s first knee-jerk reaction to the shock loss of crude supply from the Middle East was to fire up coal power plants, save fuel, and scour the global markets for alternative oil deliveries. While the Iran war and the Strait of Hormuz crisis prompted immediate measures to reduce oil and gas consumption, the quiet electrification revolution across South and Southeast Asia – outside of the headline-grabbing Chinese renewables and EV boom – is now gaining momentum. Asia felt the current crisis first, and it hit hard. Iran Crisis…

Major innovation is needed to diversify the global battery sector. Lithium-ion batteries are taking over the world – you probably have a few within reach at this very moment in your rechargeable devices. And since China controls the world's lithium supply chains and dominates global lithium-ion battery manufacturing, the global tech sector has become dangerously consolidated. Breaking this dependency on China will require breaking our dependency on lithium, creating a dire need for the development of viable alternative battery technologies.…

Repsol is holding off on its plans to list its upstream business in the United States, even as the unit is structurally ready to go public. Chief Executive Josu Jon Imaz said the company sees no urgency to move forward with an IPO or reverse merger in the near term, despite earlier indications that a liquidity event could take place in 2026. “We are comfortable in the current situation and we are not going to jump into a liquidity event in the short term,” Imaz said. Imaz said upstream fundamentals are expected to improve further in…

The statewide average for 87-octane gasoline in California has topped $6 a gallon as the Iran-war-driven global energy crunch ripples across the West Coast, the hardest-hit U.S. region. Meanwhile, the national average remains above the politically sensitive $4-a-gallon threshold, hovering around $4.30, according to AAA data as of Thursday morning. It’s clear that bad ‘green’ energy policies by unhinged, left-wing politicians in the Golden State have left the state’s energy complex in a total mess, with no buffers. "That’s…

Turkey has lost its imports of Iranian natural gas and is again looking to Turkmenistan to cover the gap. But Ashgabat appears to be prioritizing exports to China. The ongoing turmoil in the Persian Gulf has sent global gas prices soaring, a development that has inevitably led to a sudden resurgence of interest in Turkmenistan’s large natural gas reserves. Speaking at an energy conference on April 24, Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar repeated his recent call for urgent international discussions on reviving a long-debated, never-built…

The Strait of Hormuz blockade has removed roughly 9 million barrels per day of crude supply from the global market, and replacement barrels are not keeping pace, according to a new report by Vortexa. U.S. Gulf Coast crude oil exports have reached record highs, although this has been in large part supported by releases from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Additional volumes are moving through alternative routes, including pipelines via Yanbu, Fujairah, and Ceyhan, which add about 3.6 million bpd back into the system. But it isn’t enough.…

The Strait of Hormuz blockade has removed roughly 9 million barrels per day of crude supply from the global market, and replacement barrels are not keeping pace, according to a new report by Vortexa. U.S. Gulf Coast crude oil exports have reached record highs, although this has been in large part supported by releases from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Additional volumes are moving through alternative routes, including pipelines via Yanbu, Fujairah, and Ceyhan, which add about 3.6 million bpd back into the system. But it isn’t enough.…

Imports of liquefied natural gas into Asia last month slumped to the lowest in seven years. The reason, of course, was the war in the Middle East that has choked off about a quarter of global LNG supply, pushing prices higher and spurring a race for limited volumes. Most of those volumes are coming from the United States. Yet a future LNG boom is far from certain. Earlier this week, Emirati ADNOC said it would invest billions in the U.S. natural gas industry, including production, midstream, and liquefaction, as well as regasification in receiving…

The White House is weighing measures to increase U.S. oil output as supply disruptions tied to the Iran war continue to tighten the market. “We’ve been in constant communication with the oil companies, and have been considering measures that we could take here in the U.S. to increase U.S. production really soon,” White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said Thursday. “There are things, regulations that are holding up, like how quickly stuff could come through … and we’re studying those, how we can change…

The White House is weighing measures to increase U.S. oil output as supply disruptions tied to the Iran war continue to tighten the market. “We’ve been in constant communication with the oil companies, and have been considering measures that we could take here in the U.S. to increase U.S. production really soon,” White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said Thursday. “There are things, regulations that are holding up, like how quickly stuff could come through … and we’re studying those, how we can change…

The government is scrambling to secure UK airlines’ emergency access to jet fuel as global shipments fall to their lowest level on record. Global shipments of jet fuel have fallen to their lowest level on record, as the blockage to the Strait of Hormuz threatens to suffocate supply to the world’s airlines.  Under 2.3 million tonnes of jet fuel and kerosene were shipped around the world last week, according to analysts at Kpler, marking the lowest level since records began in 2017. Earlier this month, major UK carriers had warned…

One of Japan’s biggest energy firms, ENEOS, is re-entering the joint venture operating the Malaysia LNG Tiga project with a 10% stake under a deal it has signed with Malaysia’s state oil and gas firm Petronas.   ENEOS Xplora and Petronas on Thursday signed the definitive agreements formalizing ENEOS’ re-entry into Malaysia LNG Tiga Sdn. Bhd. (MLNG Tiga), the Malaysian company said in a statement. Subject to the fulfilment of certain closing conditions, ENEOS will hold a 10% equity stake in MLNG Tiga for the next decade.…

Israel Defense Minister Katz has said in a Thursday briefing: "It is possible that soon we will need to act again in Iran to ensure that the regime cannot threaten Israel for years to come," according to a local reporter. According to more, he said that while Israel supports the United States' diplomatic efforts with Iran, it may "soon be required to act again" to remove the "existential threats" posed by the Islamic Republic. "Iran has suffered extremely severe blows over the past year, blows that have set it back years in all areas," Katz…

California's average gasoline price surged to above $6 per gallon on Thursday, the first U.S. state to top this threshold since the Iran war rattled markets. The U.S. benchmark crude price, WTI Crude, had jumped to $106 per barrel in Asian trade on Thursday, driving sustained increases in U.S. gasoline prices—a political hot potato for the Trump Administration ahead of the midterm elections in November. Crude oil prices have rallied in recent days amid fears of a prolonged U.S. blockade outside the Strait of Hormuz and reports of potential…

California's average gasoline price surged to above $6 per gallon on Thursday, the first U.S. state to top this threshold since the Iran war rattled markets. The U.S. benchmark crude price, WTI Crude, had jumped to $106 per barrel in Asian trade on Thursday, driving sustained increases in U.S. gasoline prices—a political hot potato for the Trump Administration ahead of the midterm elections in November. Crude oil prices have rallied in recent days amid fears of a prolonged U.S. blockade outside the Strait of Hormuz and reports of potential…

California's average gasoline price surged to above $6 per gallon on Thursday, the first U.S. state to top this threshold since the Iran war rattled markets. The U.S. benchmark crude price, WTI Crude, had jumped to $106 per barrel in Asian trade on Thursday, driving sustained increases in U.S. gasoline prices—a political hot potato for the Trump Administration ahead of the midterm elections in November. Crude oil prices have rallied in recent days amid fears of a prolonged U.S. blockade outside the Strait of Hormuz and reports of potential…

Weeks of US and Israeli air strikes, sanctions, and restrictions have hit Iran hard, but it could be geology that eventually pushes it into making concessions in its ongoing standoff with the United States. As the US naval blockade of Iran approaches the end of its third week, data from shipping and industry monitors suggests that tankers have been unable to move Iranian crude through the Strait of Hormuz toward markets in Asia. This means that Iranian oil storage capacity is rapidly filling, and the clock is ticking before Iran will need to cease…

Oil prices continued to climb in early Asian trade on Thursday, with traders pricing in a prolonged disruption to Middle East supply flows as inventories continue to shrink. Brent crude for July delivery climbed to $113.09, up 2.65%, while West Texas Intermediate rose 2.28% to trade at $109.30. Notably, the expiring front-month Brent contract was trading at over $121, highlighting just how tight prompt supply has become in the region. The latest rally has come on the back of failed diplomatic efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and a continuing…

Failed peace talks and the ongoing disruption at the Strait of Hormuz reminded the world what a chokepoint looks like. Oil spiked. The Dow dropped. Investors scrambled for safe havens. Then, just as quickly, the tension eased again. This kind of week forces a question: what other chokepoints are hiding in plain sight? There's one that could make Hormuz look manageable in one sense. Oil has dozens of global suppliers. When one source gets disrupted, others fill the gap. Prices spike, then stabilize. The system bends but doesn't break. Domestic rare…