Texas voters on Tuesday elected a Democrat to the Railroad Commission, the regulator of the state’s oil and gas industry, for the first time since 1990. They also elected a Democratic governor who promised to halt new data center construction. Democrats running against data centers took the governorships of Georgia and Ohio and won control of Georgia’s utility regulator. Voters cast those ballots with gasoline at its highest Election Day price on record. State Rep. Jon Rosenthal, a former oilfield engineer who calls himself a “drill…

The U.S. Army wants first dibs on American-produced heavy rare earths, and REalloys (NASDAQ: ALOY) has just signed a landmark nonbinding term sheet that could put it at the top of the military's supply chain list. And the terms are extraordinary. The term sheet proposes a potential 75-year operating lease on approximately 200 acres at Tooele Army Depot in Utah, where REalloys would build and operate a facility processing dysprosium and terbium, two metals China has spent decades monopolizing. In return, one of the things that the Army wants is…

The war on Iran has doubled what Egypt pays for imported LNG, and Cairo is deferring cargoes into 2027 and burning fuel oil in its power plants to hold down the bill. Egypt’s own output fell to 3.63 bcf/d in August as older fields declined faster than new wells came online, and the petroleum ministry has now extended the deadline for bids on 14 exploration blocks meant to reverse that decline to December 14 after companies asked for more time. QatarEnergy has kept its LNG deliveries under force majeure since April, and on October 28 it extended…

While crude oil imports in Asia have reached pre-war levels, imports of refined products remain weak as gasoline and diesel imports from the Middle East have crashed amid reduced refining capacity. Asia’s oil import story these days is a reflection of the global oil markets—crude oil availability has significantly increased since the early summer lows and flows out of the Middle East have largely recovered, but supply of gasoline, and especially diesel, has sharply dropped since the Iran war began at the end of February. Reduced refinery…

The world’s biggest oil and gas companies have posted another strong quarter, with just Europe’s top six majors booking a collective $38 billion for the July-to-September quarter. Adding Exxon and Chevron, the figure swells considerably. But the supermajors are in no rush to start spending that windfall. The oil and gas industry is having the exact opposite year to 2020. The war between the United States and Israel, and Iran has pushed oil and gas prices to the highest in years. The war between Russia and Ukraine, meanwhile, has driven…

The American Petroleum Institute (API) estimated that crude oil inventories in the United States fell by 5.267 million barrels in the week ending October 30. In the week prior, US crude oil inventories fell by a staggering 2.031 million barrels. Commercial crude oil inventories excluding the SPR have lost more than 64 million barrels over the last 29 weeks, and 12 million over this year, according to API data, which has been kept in check in part thanks to draws from the SPR. For the week ending October 30, 400,000 barrels of crude oil left the…

The American Petroleum Institute (API) estimated that crude oil inventories in the United States fell by 5.267 million barrels in the week ending October 30. In the week prior, US crude oil inventories fell by a staggering 2.031 million barrels. Commercial crude oil inventories excluding the SPR have lost more than 64 million barrels over the last 29 weeks, and 12 million over this year, according to API data, which has been kept in check in part thanks to draws from the SPR. For the week ending October 30, 400,000 barrels of crude oil left the…

The American Petroleum Institute (API) estimated that crude oil inventories in the United States fell by 5.267 million barrels in the week ending October 30. In the week prior, US crude oil inventories fell by a staggering 2.031 million barrels. Commercial crude oil inventories excluding the SPR have lost more than 64 million barrels over the last 29 weeks, and 12 million over this year, according to API data, which has been kept in check in part thanks to draws from the SPR. For the week ending October 30, 400,000 barrels of crude oil left the…

Africa needs $200 billion in annual energy investment, according to the Independent Petroleum Producers Group (IPPG). Around 600 million people across Africa lack access to electricity, a problem that could quickly intensify as sub-Saharan Africa rapidly grows, develops, and industrializes. The region’s energy demand is expected to increase threefold over the next decade, as emerging economies develop and the population continues to boom. But Western investors are pulling out of the continent right when funding is most needed. To fill this…

Canada’s proposed associate membership with the European Union is a first-of-its-kind political and economic partnership announced by Prime Minister Mark Carney and EU leaders during the October 2026 Canada-EU Summit in Montreal. The arrangement creates a multi-layered tie that goes well beyond a standard free-trade agreement (like CETA), while stopping short of full EU membership. The push is driven largely by a need to reduce economic and strategic reliance on the United States amid ongoing trade tensions, tariff disputes, and political…

Fresh reporting in Middle East regional outlets suggests a major escalation in Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia. While drones and missiles have been launched on Saudi territory almost daily since September, a new report says that Houthi militants are actually conducting ground force incursions. In a development that's been largely unreported, "The Houthis have launched multiple cross-border raids into Saudi Arabia in recent months, in an expansion of the conflict beyond Yemen, a Western and Arab official with direct knowledge of the raids told Middle…

The world’s largest listed oil company, Saudi Aramco, is again in the spotlight. The company’s results, released on 3 November, clearly offer an uncomfortable lesson in wartime economics. Yes, an oil company can post higher profits even as its physical operating position deteriorates. Higher prices can counter lost production; exceptional accounting gains can lift headline earnings. Still, none of these proves the underlying business is secure. Aramco reported third-quarter net income of $36.25 billion, up 34.5% year-on-year. However,…

Oilfield services companies are paying as much as three times their usual logistics costs in the Middle East, with fuel expenses doubling and labor costs climbing by as much as 40%, as the Iran war continues to disrupt equipment deliveries and project operations. Executives speaking Tuesday at the ADIPEC energy conference in Abu Dhabi described mounting financial pressure from the nine-month conflict, which has damaged infrastructure, forced employee evacuations, and made moving equipment through the Strait of Hormuz increasingly difficult. Alessandro…

Oilfield services companies are paying as much as three times their usual logistics costs in the Middle East, with fuel expenses doubling and labor costs climbing by as much as 40%, as the Iran war continues to disrupt equipment deliveries and project operations. Executives speaking Tuesday at the ADIPEC energy conference in Abu Dhabi described mounting financial pressure from the nine-month conflict, which has damaged infrastructure, forced employee evacuations, and made moving equipment through the Strait of Hormuz increasingly difficult. Alessandro…

Oilfield services companies are paying as much as three times their usual logistics costs in the Middle East, with fuel expenses doubling and labor costs climbing by as much as 40%, as the Iran war continues to disrupt equipment deliveries and project operations. Executives speaking Tuesday at the ADIPEC energy conference in Abu Dhabi described mounting financial pressure from the nine-month conflict, which has damaged infrastructure, forced employee evacuations, and made moving equipment through the Strait of Hormuz increasingly difficult. Alessandro…

With the election settled, the presidency continuing for four more years and a newly elected Congress taking office in February, Brazil’s data center policy now hinges on execution, requiring tight coordination between parliament and the executive branch. Most clean tech policies can advance through decrees and agency rules, but data centers are an exception: Unlocking hyperscale investment requires Congress and the executive branch to align statutory tax incentive deadlines with regulatory definitions that are still to be written.At the…

The United States and Iran could reach some form of a limited agreement by the middle of 2027, which would allow oil flows from the Strait of Hormuz to continue to gradually recover, but fundamental differences will remain, and the Middle East situation will remain far from normal next year, according to Rystad Energy. “Achieving a comprehensive settlement would require addressing issues related to Iran’s nuclear program, sanctions, Tehran-backed armed groups in the region, and the security of maritime shipping, while also taking into…

The United States and Iran could reach some form of a limited agreement by the middle of 2027, which would allow oil flows from the Strait of Hormuz to continue to gradually recover, but fundamental differences will remain, and the Middle East situation will remain far from normal next year, according to Rystad Energy. “Achieving a comprehensive settlement would require addressing issues related to Iran’s nuclear program, sanctions, Tehran-backed armed groups in the region, and the security of maritime shipping, while also taking into…

Energy company Drax has unveiled plans to build a new data centre at the site of its North Yorkshire power plant, which uses wood as fuel. The FTSE 250 firm’s biomass plant is predominantly powered by wood pellets, but also uses straw and sunflower pellets. The company said it intends to use surplus energy capacity at the plant to power the new facility, in a new partnership with AI infrastructure business Radiant. Drax said it hoped the total capacity of the data centre would exceed one gigawatt, with the first phase to deliver up to 100…

Brent slipped below $105 this morning following a flurry of headlines suggesting growing momentum in U.S.-Iran peace talks, only for Tehran to subsequently dismiss the reports. US Midterms Give Oil Markets a Brief Diplomatic Reprieve - The steep backwardation seen across global crude oil benchmarks has started to flatten as markets sought to digest news of Qatar-mediated talks between the US and Iran, with Dubai M1-M3 structure nearing zero this week.     - As the Dubai cash-to-futures spread is routinely used to set Middle Eastern…