The discovery of the massive Vaca Muerta shale play was a game changer for the economically troubled South American nation of Argentina. The country, which with 2024 gross domestic product of $632 billion ranks as the second largest economy in South America and third largest in the broader region of Latin America, is rapidly becoming one of the region’s leading hydrocarbon producers. The latest data from Argentina’s Ministry of Economy shows shale oil production hit an all-time high for June 2025, although overall petroleum output dipped…

Last month, the European Union (EU) pledged to buy $750 billion worth of energy from the United States in an apparent win for Donald Trump. Experts, however, have argued that the plan is a tall order at best, and “impossible” and “delusional” and at worst. But even if the EU doesn’t manage to buy $250 billion in oil, gas, and nuclear from the United States each year of President Trump’s term, the deal could still go a long way toward weaning Europe off of Russian energy sources. "We still have too much Russian…

Via Metal Miner Australia may well emerge as one of the few non-China sources for the supply of gallium metal, a valuable mineral used in electronics, LEDs and semiconductors. In a move toward critical mineral diversification, Alcoa of Australia recently reported that it had signed a Joint Development Agreement with Japan Australia Gallium Associates Pty Ltd (JAGA) to explore gallium recovery at one of its alumina refineries in Western Australia. JAGA is itself a collaboration between Sojitz Corporation and Japan Organization for Metals and Energy…

Wall Street’s top six banks have sharply reduced fossil fuel financing in 2025, cutting total oil, gas, and coal lending by 25% year-to-date to $73 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg through August 1. The largest cut came from Morgan Stanley, which slashed lending by 54%, while JPMorgan Chase posted the smallest reduction at around 7%. Wells Fargo, despite paring back by 17%, remained the largest lender with $19.1 billion in fossil financing. The downturn comes amid the first projected decline in global upstream investment since…

Glencore has scrapped plans to move its primary listing from London as part of a major overhaul to reverse its declining share price and stuttering production. Boss Gary Nagle confirmed on Wednesday the Anglo-Swiss commodities juggernaut was no longer assessing whether to move its main listing to New York, telling reporters it decided the move would not be “value accretive”. Glencore revealed earlier this year that alongside an root-and-branch operational review to root out inefficiencies, it was also reassessing its financial home,…

Russia is preparing to sharply increase crude oil exports this month after Ukrainian drone strikes disabled two major refineries, leaving excess unprocessed crude with no domestic outlet and prompting a shift toward western port shipments. According to Reuters, crude shipments from Russia’s western ports could increase to 2 million barrels per day in August, about 200,000 bpd more than previously planned. Spot traders have begun locking in Aframax tankers to handle the sudden increase, as onshore refining options collapse and terminal inventories…

Russia is preparing to sharply increase crude oil exports this month after Ukrainian drone strikes disabled two major refineries, leaving excess unprocessed crude with no domestic outlet and prompting a shift toward western port shipments. According to Reuters, crude shipments from Russia’s western ports could increase to 2 million barrels per day in August, about 200,000 bpd more than previously planned. Spot traders have begun locking in Aframax tankers to handle the sudden increase, as onshore refining options collapse and terminal inventories…

Russia is preparing to sharply increase crude oil exports this month after Ukrainian drone strikes disabled two major refineries, leaving excess unprocessed crude with no domestic outlet and prompting a shift toward western port shipments. According to Reuters, crude shipments from Russia’s western ports could increase to 2 million barrels per day in August, about 200,000 bpd more than previously planned. Spot traders have begun locking in Aframax tankers to handle the sudden increase, as onshore refining options collapse and terminal inventories…

Russia is preparing to sharply increase crude oil exports this month after Ukrainian drone strikes disabled two major refineries, leaving excess unprocessed crude with no domestic outlet and prompting a shift toward western port shipments. According to Reuters, crude shipments from Russia’s western ports could increase to 2 million barrels per day in August, about 200,000 bpd more than previously planned. Spot traders have begun locking in Aframax tankers to handle the sudden increase, as onshore refining options collapse and terminal inventories…

As delegates from 184 countries begin talks in Geneva on a global treaty to curb plastic waste and pollution, the negotiations that began in 2022 are nowhere close to an agreement. Geneva hosts the second part of the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, after the first part failed to reach a deal in South Korea late last year. This year, chances of a comprehensive global treaty are not high, either. Major petrostates and oil and petrochemical lobbies…

U.S. President Donald Trump has signed an executive order enacting an additional 25% tariff on Indian goods, explicitly targeting India’s ongoing imports of Russian crude oil. This order increases the total tariff rate on Indian exports to the United States to 50%, the highest level for any country under current U.S. policy. According to the executive order (effective 21 days after signing, beginning at 12:01?a.m. ET), duties will apply to goods entered for consumption or withdrawn from warehouses on or after that time.  In an accompanying…

Farmland is one of the oldest asset classes, rivaling precious metals in its ability to preserve generational wealth. Unlike stocks or fiat currencies, farmland and cropland are tangible, finite, and highly productive. As the global population continues to grow and demand for healthier food intensifies, arable land per capita is shrinking due to urban sprawl and environmental degradation. This makes farmland not just a low-volatility store of value, but also a necessary hedge against rising global instability and inflationary pressures.  The…

Germany’s latest offshore wind auction without government subsidies failed to attract a single bid on Wednesday, alarming the local offshore wind sector, which is calling for a fundamental redesign of Germany’s renewable energy auctions. The Federal Network Agency’s auction for 10.1 gigawatt (GW) offshore wind farms in the German part of the North Sea ended with no investor submitting a bid for any of the two proposed sites, the Federal Association for Offshore Wind Energy, BWO, said. The auction flop signals that offshore wind…

Germany’s latest offshore wind auction without government subsidies failed to attract a single bid on Wednesday, alarming the local offshore wind sector, which is calling for a fundamental redesign of Germany’s renewable energy auctions. The Federal Network Agency’s auction for 10.1 gigawatt (GW) offshore wind farms in the German part of the North Sea ended with no investor submitting a bid for any of the two proposed sites, the Federal Association for Offshore Wind Energy, BWO, said. The auction flop signals that offshore wind…

Germany’s latest offshore wind auction without government subsidies failed to attract a single bid on Wednesday, alarming the local offshore wind sector, which is calling for a fundamental redesign of Germany’s renewable energy auctions. The Federal Network Agency’s auction for 10.1 gigawatt (GW) offshore wind farms in the German part of the North Sea ended with no investor submitting a bid for any of the two proposed sites, the Federal Association for Offshore Wind Energy, BWO, said. The auction flop signals that offshore wind…

Crude oil inventories in the United States decreased by 3.0 million barrels during the week ending August 1, according to new data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released on Wednesday. The build brings commercial stockpiles to 423.7 million barrels according to government data, which is 6% 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 suggested that crude oil inventories shrank by 4.2 million barrels. Crude prices were trading…

Crude oil exports from Iraq’s semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan to a Turkish Mediterranean port will resume either on Wednesday or Thursday, the federal Iraqi Oil Minister, Hayan Abdul Ghani, told state news agency INA today.  Abdul Ghani was visiting the Kirkuk province in Kurdistan, where he confirmed to the Iraqi News Agency (INA) that the export resumption – after a two-year halt – is imminent.  The federal government in Baghdad and the regional Kurdish government in Erbil have been squabbling for more than two…

Crude oil exports from Iraq’s semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan to a Turkish Mediterranean port will resume either on Wednesday or Thursday, the federal Iraqi Oil Minister, Hayan Abdul Ghani, told state news agency INA today.  Abdul Ghani was visiting the Kirkuk province in Kurdistan, where he confirmed to the Iraqi News Agency (INA) that the export resumption – after a two-year halt – is imminent.  The federal government in Baghdad and the regional Kurdish government in Erbil have been squabbling for more than two…

Ahead of an August 8 deadline set by US President Donald Trump for the Kremlin to stop the fighting in Ukraine, Washington is looking to squeeze Moscow economically and has found a new target: Russian oil sales to China. Reining in how much oil China buys from Russia has become an unexpected sticking point in ongoing US-China trade talks in Stockholm, where both sides are looking to settle many of their differences in order to avert punishing tariffs and reach a broader trade deal. With Trump growing increasingly frustrated with Russian President…

Argentina’s energy company YPF is nearing a deal for the acquisition of shale assets in the country owned by French supermajor TotalEnergies, Bloomberg has reported, citing unnamed sources in the know. TotalEnergies has stakes in two fields that are part of the Vaca Muerta shale play but an underdeveloped part. YPF has been very active in the development of other parts of the formation and looking for growth opportunities in what many have called the second-largest shale deposit in the world. According to the Bloomberg report, the sale could…