Following the Ukrainian drone attack that damaged a key export terminal on Russia’s Black Sea at end-November, Kazakhstan’s crude and condensate production has fallen by 6% so far in December compared to the average output in November, an anonymous industry source told Reuters on Monday.  A Ukrainian attack damaged infrastructure through which the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) exports most of Kazakhstan’s oil near the Russian port of Novorossiysk on the Black Sea.  Oil has continued to flow, but at lower rates, while…

Following the Ukrainian drone attack that damaged a key export terminal on Russia’s Black Sea at end-November, Kazakhstan’s crude and condensate production has fallen by 6% so far in December compared to the average output in November, an anonymous industry source told Reuters on Monday.  A Ukrainian attack damaged infrastructure through which the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) exports most of Kazakhstan’s oil near the Russian port of Novorossiysk on the Black Sea.  Oil has continued to flow, but at lower rates, while…

With a two-month "quarantine" placed on Venezuelan oil by the Trump administration in a foreign policy move called "gunboat diplomacy," new data estimate that roughly $900 million worth of crude is currently loaded on tankers, unable to depart Venezuela due to the U.S. blockade. "Based on our visual analysis from both shore and space, we estimate that there are around 17.5 million barrels of crude oil floating onboard tankers in Venezuela which are unable to depart due to the ongoing US blockade," independent research Tanker Trackers wrote on X.…

The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine, which has been under Russian control since early 2022, could resume operations within a year and a half after a potential end to the war, the head of the plant’s Russian operating company said on Monday.  “If this (the end of the conflict) happens tomorrow, we will be ready to start up in mid-2027,” Ramil Galiyev, CEO of the Zaporizhzhya NPP Operating Organization, said, as carried by Russia’s state news agency RIA.  The Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant is not operational…

The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine, which has been under Russian control since early 2022, could resume operations within a year and a half after a potential end to the war, the head of the plant’s Russian operating company said on Monday.  “If this (the end of the conflict) happens tomorrow, we will be ready to start up in mid-2027,” Ramil Galiyev, CEO of the Zaporizhzhya NPP Operating Organization, said, as carried by Russia’s state news agency RIA.  The Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant is not operational…

CNOOC Ltd, China’s top offshore crude oil and natural gas producer, has announced the discovery of a major new oilfield in the Bohai Sea.  The Qinhuangdao 29-6 discovery in the shallow Neogene formations of the Bohai Sea is yet another oilfield estimated to hold more than 100 million tons of crude, or about 730 million barrels, and discovered by CNOOC recently, the company said.   Through continued exploration, the proved in-place volume of Qinhuangdao 29-6 Oilfield has exceeded 100 million tons of oil equivalent.  The…

CNOOC Ltd, China’s top offshore crude oil and natural gas producer, has announced the discovery of a major new oilfield in the Bohai Sea.  The Qinhuangdao 29-6 discovery in the shallow Neogene formations of the Bohai Sea is yet another oilfield estimated to hold more than 100 million tons of crude, or about 730 million barrels, and discovered by CNOOC recently, the company said.   Through continued exploration, the proved in-place volume of Qinhuangdao 29-6 Oilfield has exceeded 100 million tons of oil equivalent.  The…

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy concluded his talks with US President Donald Trump without a peace deal, but he said US and Ukrainian teams will meet again soon and that a gathering of leaders -- including those from Europe -- will be held in Washington next month. Zelenskyy, on December 28, posted on social media that "we had a substantive discussion on all issues," including matters concerning all-important security guarantees, at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida. "We discussed all the aspects of the peace framework and…

Saudi Arabia is expected to further lower the price of its crude oil bound for Asia in February, as global supply remains plentiful and spot benchmarks in the Middle East have dropped, a Reuters survey of six Asian refining sources showed on Monday.   Saudi Arabia, the biggest crude exporter in the world, is poised to reduce the price of its flagship Arab Light crude by $0.10 to $0.30 per barrel for February loadings to Asia, the participants in the survey said.  The expected drop would bring the price of Arab Light to a premium…

Oil prices rose by 2% early on Monday in thinner-than-usual trading after the U.S. and Ukrainian presidents said progress had been made on a peace agreement, but issues still remain to be discussed.   As of 7:43 a.m. ET on Monday, the U.S. benchmark crude price, WTI Crude, was up by 2.43% on the day and traded at $58.12.  The international benchmark, Brent Crude, moved to $62 per barrel, up by 2.24% from Friday’s close.  U.S. President Donald Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy met on Sunday at Mar-a-Lago…

China’s exports of electric vehicles surged by 87% in November from a year earlier, with Asia and Europe taking the highest number of Chinese EVs, per data from China’s customs office cited by Bloomberg. Asia remained the top export market for China-made EVs, with a 71% jump in sales, to 110,061 units in November compared to the same month of 2024. Sales in Europe surged by 63% to nearly 43,000 vehicles last month, according to the official Chinese export data. The region of Latin America and the Caribbean saw sales of China-made EVs…

China’s exports of electric vehicles surged by 87% in November from a year earlier, with Asia and Europe taking the highest number of Chinese EVs, per data from China’s customs office cited by Bloomberg. Asia remained the top export market for China-made EVs, with a 71% jump in sales, to 110,061 units in November compared to the same month of 2024. Sales in Europe surged by 63% to nearly 43,000 vehicles last month, according to the official Chinese export data. The region of Latin America and the Caribbean saw sales of China-made EVs…

Oil prices climbed in early Asian trading on Monday, as Russia attacked a key heating plant in Kherson and Ukraine targeted a Russian oil refinery. The strikes dampened hopes of a Russia-Ukraine peace deal, even as Trump and Zelensky claimed progress on a 20-point peace plan. At the time of writing, Brent crude had risen by 0.86% to $61.16, while WTI was trading 0.81% higher at $57.20. This recent rise in oil prices comes on the back of a 2% drop on Friday, as optimism over a peace deal grew alongside oversupply fears. The Russian attack on Naftogaz's…

New Zealand’s gas market has been moving from self-sufficient to structurally tight. Domestic output has almost halved in the last 7 years, falling from an average 415 million m³/month in 2017 to 215 million m³/month in 2025, stripping out the buffer that once covered seasonal swings and dry-year hydro shortfalls. The drought-driven winters of 2024–2025 exposed a new reality: as hydro weakened, the country’s power system leaned harder on thermal generation just as gas supply was tightening, triggering sharp spikes in…

We are seeing a violent collision between two worlds: the high-speed, iterative world of artificial intelligence and the slow, grinding, capital-intensive world of nuclear physics.  Data from a survey of over 600 global investors reveals that 63% now view AI electricity demand as a "structural" shift in nuclear planning. This isn't a temporary spike or a speculative bubble. It is the physical footprint of every Large Language Model (LLM) query finally showing up on the global balance sheet. For years, the energy narrative was dominated by…

The gold price is racing from one all-time high to the next. That’s good news for friends of the precious metal and bad news for anyone still hoping for a stabilization of global debt dynamics.  Assuming the markets close out the year without major volatility, gold holders can look forward to an approximate 70 percent increase in value within a single year. This is remarkable—not least because 2024 already ended with a 26 percent gain for the otherwise conservative asset class of precious metals. That amounts to a doubling of value…

For most of the past decade, oil markets have treated decisions by OPEC as the primary signal for price direction. That hierarchy is being tested, but not overturned. What has changed is where traders look for short-term cues. Increasingly, those cues are coming from China, not because Beijing controls supply, but because its buying behavior now dominates marginal demand and near-term price discovery. As reported by Reuters, China has overtaken OPEC as the most influential force in oil price formation, driven by the scale and timing of its crude…

While Kazakhstan has big plans to develop its nuclear power capacity, the United States is helping Astana think small. The US government has agreed to help train Kazakh specialists in the operation of small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs), according to a statement issued December 22 by the US Embassy in Astana. The first phase of the cooperation deal involves the supply of an SMR simulator to Kazakhstan’s Institute of Nuclear Physics in Almaty.  At the same time, a US energy company, Sargent & Lundy, will carry out a feasibility…

As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepares to meet US President Donald Trump in Florida on December 29, the agenda centers on Iran -- with a twist. Israel is laser-focused on Iran’s ballistic missile program, which it views as the most urgent existential threat after the US-Israeli strikes severely damaged Iran's nuclear infrastructure during a 12-day aerial campaign in June. This shift highlights a growing US-Israel divergence. Trump has repeatedly described Iran's nuclear threat as "obliterated," crediting wartime bombings of…

The prevailing structural theme right now is that national oil companies (NOCs), in some cases and across some segments, are moving faster than the majors, outspending them, beating them in locking up supply chains, and building cash cows faster for the future. You can see it directly in upstream spending trends highlighted by the IEA Oil 2025 report, and the money is shifting this way because the NOCs have political backing, lower lifting costs, and much clearer mandates than the big listed companies. Wood Mackenzie has warned that tighter capital…