Egypt’s parliament on Monday authorized military support to defend Saudi Arabia, the same day Yemen’s Houthis claimed unconfirmed attacks on pumping stations along the kingdom’s East-West crude pipeline and on Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport. The Houthis had warned Cairo against the move. Yahya Al Raei, speaker of the Houthi-run parliament in Sanaa, wrote to Egyptian Speaker Hisham Badawy last week that joining the conflict “would pose a grave danger” to Egypt’s national security. The approval…

Egypt’s parliament on Monday authorized military support to defend Saudi Arabia, the same day Yemen’s Houthis claimed unconfirmed attacks on pumping stations along the kingdom’s East-West crude pipeline and on Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport. The Houthis had warned Cairo against the move. Yahya Al Raei, speaker of the Houthi-run parliament in Sanaa, wrote to Egyptian Speaker Hisham Badawy last week that joining the conflict “would pose a grave danger” to Egypt’s national security. The approval…

Kazakhstan had reason to cheer after receiving a commitment from the International Finance Corporation to help develop infrastructure projects worth $3 billion. But that happy foreign investment news was offset by an international arbitration court’s decision to throw out $12 billion in Kazakh claims against Western oil giants in a dispute over the development of the Kashagan oil field. The IFC, the World Bank’s private-sector wing, will get involved in projects covering the 2026-31 period, focusing on fostering public-private partnerships…

EQT Corp. (NYSE:EQT) will buy Range Resources (NYSE:RRC) in an all-stock deal valued at more than $50 billion, including debt. The combined company will produce more than 9 billion cubic feet equivalent a day of Appalachian gas, and the two companies call it the largest vertically integrated natural gas producer in the United States.  Range shareholders will receive 0.987 EQT shares for each share they hold, an implied $54.91 a share and a 20.6% premium to Friday’s close. That values Range’s equity at about $12.8 billion, according…

EQT Corp. (NYSE:EQT) will buy Range Resources (NYSE:RRC) in an all-stock deal valued at more than $50 billion, including debt. The combined company will produce more than 9 billion cubic feet equivalent a day of Appalachian gas, and the two companies call it the largest vertically integrated natural gas producer in the United States.  Range shareholders will receive 0.987 EQT shares for each share they hold, an implied $54.91 a share and a 20.6% premium to Friday’s close. That values Range’s equity at about $12.8 billion, according…

Few could argue with U.S. President Donald Trump’s key objective in launching ‘Operation Epic Fury’ against Iran on 28 February -- to prevent Iran from ever being able to develop a nuclear weapon. All members of his Cabinet fully backed this aim at the time, as they did the other three: to effect regime change, to critically degrade Iran’s ballistic missile capability, and to neutralise the ability of its proxies, especially Hamas and Hezbollah, to cause mayhem across the Middle East and the world. The degree to which these…

Russian refiners have raised diesel output for October after Moscow issued export quotas under the Kremlin’s supply agreement with the United States, two industry sources told Reuters on Monday. Daily production fell to about 160,000 metric tons in the first half of the month, from 175,000 tons in September. It began climbing toward 180,000 tons a day once the quotas arrived in mid-October. Russia’s domestic diesel consumption typically drops to about 140,000 tons a day in October, after the grain harvest and the summer driving season…

It seems that everywhere you look in the financial media these days, there is persistent hype about artificial intelligence (AI) and the companies developing it. Right alongside this great investment boom is doom and gloom about the future value of bonds. Oil, too, is frequently covered for two reasons: the inability of oil futures prices—which seem suspiciously low—to reflect the long-term effects of what is happening in the Persian Gulf, and the high prices of refined products such as gasoline and diesel, where the real squeeze seems…

Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), one of the biggest Indian state-owned refiners, will reduce its purchases of crude oil from Russia in November as high freight costs and premiums for Russia’s crude undermine the attractiveness of Moscow’s oil compared to Middle Eastern offers.  BPCL will buy lower volumes of Russian crude in November as the Middle East grades are more commercially attractive for the company now, BPCL’s head of finance, Vetsa Ramakrishna Gupta, said on Monday, discussing the refiner’s quarterly…

Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), one of the biggest Indian state-owned refiners, will reduce its purchases of crude oil from Russia in November as high freight costs and premiums for Russia’s crude undermine the attractiveness of Moscow’s oil compared to Middle Eastern offers.  BPCL will buy lower volumes of Russian crude in November as the Middle East grades are more commercially attractive for the company now, BPCL’s head of finance, Vetsa Ramakrishna Gupta, said on Monday, discussing the refiner’s quarterly…

Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), one of the biggest Indian state-owned refiners, will reduce its purchases of crude oil from Russia in November as high freight costs and premiums for Russia’s crude undermine the attractiveness of Moscow’s oil compared to Middle Eastern offers.  BPCL will buy lower volumes of Russian crude in November as the Middle East grades are more commercially attractive for the company now, BPCL’s head of finance, Vetsa Ramakrishna Gupta, said on Monday, discussing the refiner’s quarterly…

Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), one of the biggest Indian state-owned refiners, will reduce its purchases of crude oil from Russia in November as high freight costs and premiums for Russia’s crude undermine the attractiveness of Moscow’s oil compared to Middle Eastern offers.  BPCL will buy lower volumes of Russian crude in November as the Middle East grades are more commercially attractive for the company now, BPCL’s head of finance, Vetsa Ramakrishna Gupta, said on Monday, discussing the refiner’s quarterly…

We extensively covered the unusually strong El Niño, its weather impacts by region, and the risks this adverse weather poses to crop production and global food inflation.  UBS's energy team hosted a call Tuesday with meteorologist James Block to assess El Niño impacts for weather markets. The discussion comes amid a global refining crisis and continued disruptions to Strait of Hormuz energy flows, with European natural gas futures approaching 90 euros per megawatt-hour this week. Block offered some relief to energy consumers…

The Middle East conflict has tightened energy markets so much that crude oil, fuel, and natural gas prices are unlikely to return to pre-war levels in 2027, Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), said on Monday.  “I am afraid I don't see any credible pathway that the markets will go next year, where we were before this war has started,” Birol said at the Singapore International Energy Week conference, as carried by Reuters.  In a speech at the event, Birol cautioned that energy markets are…

The Middle East conflict has tightened energy markets so much that crude oil, fuel, and natural gas prices are unlikely to return to pre-war levels in 2027, Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), said on Monday.  “I am afraid I don't see any credible pathway that the markets will go next year, where we were before this war has started,” Birol said at the Singapore International Energy Week conference, as carried by Reuters.  In a speech at the event, Birol cautioned that energy markets are…

A group of sanctioned Russian tankers dropped anchor some 1,300 kilometers north of the Arctic Circle in July after getting stuck and hunkered down for a long wait in the frozen waters at the top of the world. Help from two nuclear-powered icebreakers was several days' voyage away. The ships were stuck near the Vilkitsky Strait, a 55-kilometer-wide choke point between the coast of northern Siberia and Bolshevik Island, on Russia's Northern Sea Route (NSR) to China. The Kremlin has heavily invested in the promise that retreating Arctic sea ice opens…

Crude oil prices began trading with a dip this week but remain significantly elevated as hostilities between Yemen’s Houthis and Saudi Arabia, as well as Iranian attacks on tankers in the Persian Gulf, continue. At the time of writing, Brent crude was trading at $114.42 per barrel, down from over $116 per barrel last week but up from around $60 per barrel at the end of 2025. West Texas Intermediate remained above $100 per barrel, despite the dip from Friday’s close, trading at $100.97 per barrel at the time of writing, down from a 2026…

Crude oil prices began trading with a dip this week but remain significantly elevated as hostilities between Yemen’s Houthis and Saudi Arabia, as well as Iranian attacks on tankers in the Persian Gulf, continue. At the time of writing, Brent crude was trading at $114.42 per barrel, down from over $116 per barrel last week but up from around $60 per barrel at the end of 2025. West Texas Intermediate remained above $100 per barrel, despite the dip from Friday’s close, trading at $100.97 per barrel at the time of writing, down from a 2026…

For years, the rare earth industry has been talking about January 1, 2027 as the date that changes everything. That date is now less than 75 days away. On January 1, new Pentagon procurement rules take effect that will restrict the use of Chinese-origin rare earth materials in American weapons systems. The restrictions cover the full supply chain, from mining and refining through separation, melting, and production. Every defense contractor currently sourcing rare earth magnets or magnet materials from China will need a compliant domestic alternative.…

The global energy transition is increasingly becoming an Asian story, and Asia is unlikely to follow the path envisioned in Washington or Brussels. The region’s governments will have enormous influence over the future of coal, oil, natural gas, renewables and energy storage. What happens next in Asia will determine whether the transition actually reduces global fossil fuel consumption or simply adds vast amounts of renewable power to an energy system that keeps getting bigger. Asia requires $1 trillion annually in energy investments over…