Europe’s benchmark natural gas prices rose on Thursday to nearly 90 euros per megawatt-hour, or the equivalent of $29.50 per million British thermal units (MMBtu), as the escalation in the Middle East raised concerns about European winter gas supply amid historically low inventories at the start of the heating season.    The front-month price at the Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TTF), the benchmark for Europe’s gas trading, had jumped by 2.7% at 9 a.m. Amsterdam time on Thursday, tracking a 3% surge in oil prices as…

A lot has happened since 1 June 2022, the date when ministers first granted permission to tap the Jackdaw gas field. The Conservatives were halfway through their ill-fated final term of three. Kwasi Kwarteng was the business secretary, with equally ill-fated aspirations for higher office. And the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero – now responsible for overseeing all major energy policy decisions – did not even exist. In the more than four years since then, Britain has been treated to five new energy secretaries and six Chancellors.…

LME Week 2026 kicked off in London on Monday, with industry leaders focused on the macroeconomic outlook for base metals, AI and energy transition demand, as well as critical mineral supply chain resilience. This year's discussions have come at a time when the London Metal Exchange is robustly healthy, recording a 16% year-on-year increase in average daily turnover from January through September.  Standard Chartered's commodity analysts expect mixed results for base metals in the coming months. Prices will follow macroeconomic conditions (risk…

Oil supermajors have been raking it in since the war in the Middle East began. They are now set to report another robust quarter, even as some jurisdictions where they operate plan to slap windfall taxes on them. The question now is what Big Oil will do with these profits. The answer: it probably won’t be a spending spree. They sure have the money for a spree. If the second quarter is any indication—and it is—oil and gas majors are having a really strong year. Out of all S&P 500 sectors, Energy booked annual growth of 128.2%…

Congress needs to pass the bipartisan bill on permitting reform to accelerate energy infrastructure buildout so that the United States can compete economically and industrially with China, say former economic policy and national security officials who have served six U.S. presidents. The Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act of 2026 was introduced in the Senate at the end of September and is expected to be debated after the mid-term elections when Congress returns from the recess on November 9. The bill would reinforce statutory deadlines…

The world’s ongoing energy crisis is quickly turning into a global food security crisis. Ongoing conflict between some of the world’s most prominent economies on two major fronts – Russia’s war in Ukraine and the United States’ and Israel’s war in Iran – is creating geopolitical shockwaves through critical global trade routes and threatening some of humanity’s most essential commodities, from oil and gas to grain and fertilizer.  A "multidirectional squeeze on world agriculture" is taking form,…

Back in July, UK oil and gas major BP Plc. (NYSE:BP) announced that it was putting its entire UK North Sea oil and gas business up for sale as part of a broader $20-billion portfolio overhaul, marking the end of a 60-year era as a leading player in Europe's largest oil basin. BP's North Sea operations produced about 117,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2025 (roughly 5% of BP's total global output) and employed around 1,100 people. BP is hardly alone. Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) and Chevron (NYSE:CVX) have sold their UK North Sea assets in recent…

Asia-bound Russian crude and fuel supplies are being rerouted as the US-Israeli war on Iran and disruptions in the straits of Hormuz and Bab al-Mandab choke off traditional crude flows from the Persian Gulf. Indeed, Russia increased oil and LNG shipments via the Northern Sea Route (NSR) and utilized shadow fleets to bypass chokepoints and fulfill Asian demand. Reuters reports that Russia’s oil exports through its NSR in 2026 have already exceeded last year’s by nearly 50%, with 20 million barrels shipped to Asia from the July to mid-October…

Central Asia’s two economic drivers, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, seem satisfied with the results of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s visit to the region. But Astana and Tashkent both want to see more done to “translate political agreements into concrete investments.” Rubio led a large American delegation that participated in a business forum in the Uzbek city of Samarkand on October 19. The same day he met with the foreign ministers of all five Central Asian states within the C5+1 format and held one-on-one talks with…

Saudi Arabia's crude exports rose about 7.9% in August from July to 4.451 million barrels per day, the highest since March, while its oil production fell to a record low of 6.24 million bpd, the Joint Organizations Data Initiative (JODI) showed Wednesday, Reuters reported. Production was 8.135 million bpd in July and 6.560 million bpd in May. Exports were 4.125 million bpd in July. In March, they were 4.974 million bpd, JODI data showed in May. Refinery crude throughput fell by 181,000 bpd to 2.297 million bpd in August from 2.478 million bpd in…

Saudi Arabia's crude exports rose about 7.9% in August from July to 4.451 million barrels per day, the highest since March, while its oil production fell to a record low of 6.24 million bpd, the Joint Organizations Data Initiative (JODI) showed Wednesday, Reuters reported. Production was 8.135 million bpd in July and 6.560 million bpd in May. Exports were 4.125 million bpd in July. In March, they were 4.974 million bpd, JODI data showed in May. Refinery crude throughput fell by 181,000 bpd to 2.297 million bpd in August from 2.478 million bpd in…

Here is a question that should be harder to answer than it is: China still controls the rare earth spigot, the latest Trump-Xi summit did nothing to loosen its grip, Japan is about to run out of yttrium, Washington has put a $110/kg floor under NdPr, and Western buyers are paying anywhere from 5x to 346x the Chinese price for heavy rare earths. So why are rare earth stocks down on the year? That is the question Canaccord's critical minerals team led by Reg Spencer asks in an overnight note titled "Rare Earths: Equity disconnect from strong…

General Motors will add hybrids in multiple segments, CEO Mary Barra told analysts Oct. 20, with US gasoline at $4.28 a gallon, up from $3.04 a year earlier. GM's US sales fell 6% in the third quarter, while Toyota's sales of electrified vehicles rose 28.5%. "We will have hybrids," Barra said on the company's third-quarter earnings call, in answer to UBS analyst Joe Spak. She said GM will give more detail closer to launch. Barra said the hybrids will come in segments where GM already competes. She said much of today's hybrid activity is in compact…

General Motors will add hybrids in multiple segments, CEO Mary Barra told analysts Oct. 20, with US gasoline at $4.28 a gallon, up from $3.04 a year earlier. GM's US sales fell 6% in the third quarter, while Toyota's sales of electrified vehicles rose 28.5%. "We will have hybrids," Barra said on the company's third-quarter earnings call, in answer to UBS analyst Joe Spak. She said GM will give more detail closer to launch. Barra said the hybrids will come in segments where GM already competes. She said much of today's hybrid activity is in compact…

A major gas field in the North Sea has been re-approved by the government following years of legal rows with environmental campaigners. The Jackdaw site, a large offshore natural gas field 150 miles east of Aberdeen, has received the official stamp of approval from the government and is expected to supply gas to the UK “by the end of the month”. The project was first green-lit back in 2022, but has faced successful legal challenges from activists over its climate impact. Multiple industry bodies and US President Donald Trump have urged…

India’s largest state-owned refiner, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), will reduce slightly the volumes of Middle East crude oil it will buy under annual term deals in the 2027/2028 fiscal year starting next March, amid uncertainty of supply from the region, an anonymous source with knowledge of the plans told Reuters on Wednesday. IOC initially planned to procure 47% of its crude oil from the Middle East for the coming fiscal year, but it would now “slightly” reduce this share, according to Reuters’ source. Refiners in India…

India’s largest state-owned refiner, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), will reduce slightly the volumes of Middle East crude oil it will buy under annual term deals in the 2027/2028 fiscal year starting next March, amid uncertainty of supply from the region, an anonymous source with knowledge of the plans told Reuters on Wednesday. IOC initially planned to procure 47% of its crude oil from the Middle East for the coming fiscal year, but it would now “slightly” reduce this share, according to Reuters’ source. Refiners in India…

India’s largest state-owned refiner, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), will reduce slightly the volumes of Middle East crude oil it will buy under annual term deals in the 2027/2028 fiscal year starting next March, amid uncertainty of supply from the region, an anonymous source with knowledge of the plans told Reuters on Wednesday. IOC initially planned to procure 47% of its crude oil from the Middle East for the coming fiscal year, but it would now “slightly” reduce this share, according to Reuters’ source. Refiners in India…

India’s largest state-owned refiner, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), will reduce slightly the volumes of Middle East crude oil it will buy under annual term deals in the 2027/2028 fiscal year starting next March, amid uncertainty of supply from the region, an anonymous source with knowledge of the plans told Reuters on Wednesday. IOC initially planned to procure 47% of its crude oil from the Middle East for the coming fiscal year, but it would now “slightly” reduce this share, according to Reuters’ source. Refiners in India…

Crude oil inventories in the United States saw a decrease of 3.1 million barrels during the week ending October 16, according to new data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released on Wednesday. The decrease brings commercial stockpiles to 412.5 million barrels, according to government data, which is now 3% below the five-year average for this time of year. The EIA’s data release follows API’s figures that were released a day earlier, which reported that crude oil inventories had fallen by 4.93 million barrels in…