Cuba is set to soon receive two Russian cargoes of crude and diesel amid the U.S. energy blockade that has caused an unprecedented power crisis in the country.   The shipments from Russia, which considers Cuba as one of few “friendly countries”, could test the U.S. resolve to continue isolating energy shipments for the island. If the tankers en route to Cuba do arrive in the coming days, they would be the first Russian oil and fuel shipments to the country this year.  The tanker Anatoly Kolodkin, sanctioned by the U.S.,…

From Sunday through late Thursday, oil swung sharply as traders moved between two competing forces: escalating war risk in the Middle East and a growing policy response aimed at easing supply shortages. As of late Thursday, nearby WTI crude oil traded at $94.13, down $3.90 or 3.98%, reflecting how quickly sentiment shifted during the week. War Risk Collides With Supply Relief, Driving Violent Oil Price Swings Early in the week, crude prices moved lower as initial fears of a complete supply choke eased. Reports indicated that some tankers had begun…

Politics, Geopolitics & Conflict Trump’s “51st state” comment on Venezuela comes as the country’s power structure is being reset in a way that looks controlled, not transformed. Delcy Rodríguez has replaced longtime defense chief Vladimir Padrino López with Gustavo González López, an intelligence figure tied directly to internal security. This is more of a tightening of control over the military and surveillance apparatus at a critical time when anything could shake it. At the same time, Venezuela’s…

Everything is about leverage.  Hormuz is no longer the only story as the White House loses control of its version of the narrative. The conflict is shifting toward direct control over physical supply and the infrastructure that moves it. Washington’s answer to Hormuz is Kharg Island, through which some 90% of Iran’s oil exports moved prior to this week. The strategy here was a U.S. strike that targeted military assets but left export infrastructure intact in order to maintain it for future leverage. As long as those terminals and…

The most immediate buffer to avoid oil supply shortages—crude in floating storage—is being depleted at a rapid rate as buyers scramble to get their hands on volumes sitting on tankers that are away from the Strait of Hormuz.   Oil in floating storage has fallen to about 78 million barrels this week, from 140 million barrels at the end of last year, according to data from intelligence firm Vortexa cited by Bloomberg. Since the war in the Middle East began, the oil on water volumes have been drawing down at an estimated rate…

Kuwait’s Mina Al-Ahmadi refinery was hit by Iranian drones early on Friday in attacks that caused a fire in several units at the facility, as the war in the Middle East shows no signs of de-escalation despite the most recent U.S. and Israeli rhetoric.      The refinery, which is located 50 kilometers (31 miles) south of Kuwait City and has the capacity to process 346,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil, came under drone attacks in the early hours of Friday, Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) said in a statement…

Qatar’s state firm QatarEnergy expects the damage to the Ras Laffan LNG complex, the world’s single largest LNG-producing facility, to cost it about $20 billion per year in lost revenue and to take up to five years to repair.  The Iranian missile attacks on Qatar’s Ras Laffan Industrial City (RLIC) earlier this week dashed hopes of quick resumption of Qatari LNG flows even if the Strait of Hormuz were to open to unimpeded and safe traffic today.  After QatarEnergy confirmed damage from Thursday’s attack,…

China has invested over $120 billion in overseas mining and mineral processing projects since 2023, Australian think tank Climate Energy Finance (CEF) has reported. The investments primarily targeted lithium, copper, nickel and rare earths, critical minerals essential for clean energy and decarbonization technologies. However, whereas these investments have helped boost clean energy industries in developing countries, they have raised serious concerns, including debt risks.  Chinese firms are aggressively investing in overseas resource processing…

The shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz following the war in Iran has delivered a harsh lesson to global energy markets: the waterway carries far more than crude oil. Beyond crude and natural gas, the Middle East anchors key downstream fuel flows that sustain entire national energy systems. Nowhere is that dependence clearer than in India, where the liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) market relies overwhelmingly on supplies from the Gulf. Middle Eastern suppliers account for roughly 90% of India’s LPG imports, a figure that becomes even more striking…

The shock halt to oil and LNG supply at the Strait of Hormuz is reverberating to all major energy-consuming regions and exposes the energy security issues of Asia, Europe, and the United States. No region can be insulated from the biggest disruption in the history of the oil market, though some suffer more than others in terms of supply crunch. But all see soaring fuel prices and a very real threat of accelerating inflation, and no interest rate cuts soon. Asia experiences the biggest and most imminent disruption, while Europe loses the competition…

Oil and gas prices are hogging headlines, but while the world watches the Middle East, U.S. officials have been busy elsewhere. Chile, the world’s biggest supplier of one particular critical mineral, is in talks with the U.S. on a supply agreement for rhenium—an element seen as vital for national security. Rhenium is a genuinely rare element that has an extremely high melting point of around 3,180 degrees Celsius, which makes it extra resistant to both heat and wear, according to the USGS. This, in turn, makes rhenium highly prized…

Cuba finally reconnected its power supply on Tuesday after an extended blackout swept the island as the United States tried to choke off the island’s energy supply. Blackouts lasted nearly 30 hours as Donald Trump engineered an oil blockade and publicly ruminated about whether he would have the “honor of taking Cuba.” But the move, rather than isolating Cuba, may have just deepened its ties with China. Cuba, which is already beleaguered with an obsolete and fragile power system, saw its grid collapse under the weight of the weekslong…

The Trump administration is drawing a clear line as oil prices surge: no export ban. With Brent crude pushing $110 per barrel and U.S. gasoline prices nearing $4 a gallon, pressure is building in Washington to respond to the fallout from the Iran war. But officials are signaling they won’t reach for one of the most disruptive policy tools on the table—restricting U.S. crude exports. “Oil and gas export restrictions are not under consideration,” a Trump official said on Thursday, according to the Financial Times. That reassurance…

The UK government has reduced steel import quotas and raised tariffs to 50 per cent outside unit limits as part of a strategy to save the industry, an “bold” move that is likely to draw criticism from economists and opposition groups.  Quotas for imports free from the higher tariffs will be reduced by 60 per cent from July. The government has set a target for domestic production to support half of steel demand in the UK. “Making steel in the UK is vital for national security, critical infrastructure and the wider economy,”…

Qatar’s LNG outage will span years. Repairs to damage at Qatar’s massive Ras Laffan complex will take three to five years to complete, according to QatarEnergy CEO Saad al-Kaabi, cited by Reuters, turning what markets initially treated as a wartime disruption into a lengthy structural supply loss. About 17% of Qatar’s LNG export capacity is now effectively sidelined for years to come. Up until now, traders were focused on the timing. When flows might resume, when the Strait of Hormuz might reopen, when force majeures would be…

Diplomatic engagement has replaced aggressive rhetoric, as Azerbaijan strives to keep tensions with neighboring Iran from boiling over again. In the immediate aftermath of Iranian drone strikes in the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan on March 5, officials in Baku adopted a bellicose stance, warning that further acts of aggression against Azerbaijan would result in “Iron Fist” retaliation. They also demanded that those responsible for the drone strikes be held accountable. Over the last 10 days or so, however, Baku’s tone has…

India expects to nearly quadruple its solar power capacity and triple wind power-generating assets within ten years, according to the new Generation Adequacy Plan published by the country’s Central Electricity Authority.  India projects to have a total of 509 gigawatts (GW) of solar power capacity installed by the end of the 2035-2036 fiscal year, up from 140 GW installed solar PV capacity as of January 2026.   For wind power, the country expects 155 GW of installed capacity within a decade, up from 55 GW as of January this…

India expects to nearly quadruple its solar power capacity and triple wind power-generating assets within ten years, according to the new Generation Adequacy Plan published by the country’s Central Electricity Authority.  India projects to have a total of 509 gigawatts (GW) of solar power capacity installed by the end of the 2035-2036 fiscal year, up from 140 GW installed solar PV capacity as of January 2026.   For wind power, the country expects 155 GW of installed capacity within a decade, up from 55 GW as of January this…

India expects to nearly quadruple its solar power capacity and triple wind power-generating assets within ten years, according to the new Generation Adequacy Plan published by the country’s Central Electricity Authority.  India projects to have a total of 509 gigawatts (GW) of solar power capacity installed by the end of the 2035-2036 fiscal year, up from 140 GW installed solar PV capacity as of January 2026.   For wind power, the country expects 155 GW of installed capacity within a decade, up from 55 GW as of January this…

India expects to nearly quadruple its solar power capacity and triple wind power-generating assets within ten years, according to the new Generation Adequacy Plan published by the country’s Central Electricity Authority.  India projects to have a total of 509 gigawatts (GW) of solar power capacity installed by the end of the 2035-2036 fiscal year, up from 140 GW installed solar PV capacity as of January 2026.   For wind power, the country expects 155 GW of installed capacity within a decade, up from 55 GW as of January this…