Pacific Gas and Electric has unveiled a $73-billion spending program through 2030 to overhaul California’s grid as electricity demand from artificial intelligence and cloud infrastructure explodes, Reuters reported on Monday. The utility said the plan will support as much as 10 gigawatts of new load from data centers slated for development in its service territory over the next decade. Brent crude and copper traders aren’t the only ones recalibrating supply-demand curves. U.S. utilities are now staring down a structural load shock driven…

Pacific Gas and Electric has unveiled a $73-billion spending program through 2030 to overhaul California’s grid as electricity demand from artificial intelligence and cloud infrastructure explodes, Reuters reported on Monday. The utility said the plan will support as much as 10 gigawatts of new load from data centers slated for development in its service territory over the next decade. Brent crude and copper traders aren’t the only ones recalibrating supply-demand curves. U.S. utilities are now staring down a structural load shock driven…

Pacific Gas and Electric has unveiled a $73-billion spending program through 2030 to overhaul California’s grid as electricity demand from artificial intelligence and cloud infrastructure explodes, Reuters reported on Monday. The utility said the plan will support as much as 10 gigawatts of new load from data centers slated for development in its service territory over the next decade. Brent crude and copper traders aren’t the only ones recalibrating supply-demand curves. U.S. utilities are now staring down a structural load shock driven…

Recently, the International Energy Agency (IEA) identified Brazil as a key non-OPEC oil producer responsible for driving global production growth. A swathe of world-class ultra-deepwater pre-salt oil discoveries, the first made in the Lula field during 2006, are driving a massive offshore oil boom. Not only is Brazil Latin America’s largest oil producer, but the country is receiving substantial investment from Big Oil, which is driving production to record highs. By July 2023, petroleum output for the first time eclipsed 3.5 million barrels…

Crude oil flows from the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region of Iraq (KRI) through the Iraq-Turkey Pipeline (ITP from Kirkuk to Ceyhan resumed on Saturday (27 September) for the first time since 25 March 2023. This followed agreements between the various interested parties, comprised of the Iraq Kurdistan regional government (the KRG), the foreign oil and gas firms operating in the KRI, the Federal Government of Iraq (FGI), Turkey, and the U.S. This latter entrant into the two-and-a-half-year fray is the key reason for the sudden lack of objections…

Declining revenues from oil and gas amid lower prices this year have prompted the Algerian government to consider a bond issue to raise the equivalent of $2.3 billion. Algeria’s government plans a seven-year Islamic bond issue, the so-called sukuk, of 297 billion Algerian dinars, or $2.3 billion, broadcaster Asharq TV reports, as quoted by Bloomberg. The issue will be offered to Algerian nationals in and outside Algeria; foreigners are not allowed in the subscription period beginning in early November. Algeria, an OPEC member and one of the…

There's an old saying that I won't spell out completely, but which most readers will certainly have heard at least once in their lives, to wit: "Don't sh-- where you eat." It is an all-purpose warning about not pursuing incompatible activities in the same place, particularly activities that produce either physical waste or emotional complications. In this case, the waste part is wastewater emitted by oil wells drilled into shale deposits, which must undergo extensive hydraulic fracturing (often called fracking) before the oil can be freed. What…

The export availability of crude oil from Iraq’s semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan continues to increase after the pipeline from northern Iraq to the Turkish Mediterranean coast resumed flows on Saturday, one of the foreign companies operating in Kurdistan said on Monday.  UK-listed Gulf Keystone Petroleum confirmed that crude oil exports from its operated Shaikan field in Kurdistan via the Iraq-Türkiye Pipeline commenced on Saturday, September 27, 2025.  “Export volumes are expected to reach full capacity in the next…

The export availability of crude oil from Iraq’s semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan continues to increase after the pipeline from northern Iraq to the Turkish Mediterranean coast resumed flows on Saturday, one of the foreign companies operating in Kurdistan said on Monday.  UK-listed Gulf Keystone Petroleum confirmed that crude oil exports from its operated Shaikan field in Kurdistan via the Iraq-Türkiye Pipeline commenced on Saturday, September 27, 2025.  “Export volumes are expected to reach full capacity in the next…

Iran has slammed what it called "failed diplomacy" after a last-minute diplomatic push failed to stop the United Nations from officially reimposing sanctions on Tehran over its nuclear program. Britain, France, and Germany -- the European 3 (E3) forces leading the move -- announced that the so-called snapback sanctions had been reimposed on Iran as of September 28. Iran is already reeling under the weight of sanctions from the United States, and the rial, Iran's currency, immediately fell to a record low 1.12 million rials against the dollar. The…

Brent Crude prices failed to hold onto the $70 per barrel handle for more than a day, dipping by 2% early on Monday as the market focused on imminent supply increases. As of 7:28 a.m. EDT on Monday, Brent Crude prices were down by 1.74% at $68.87, after hitting $70 per barrel on Friday, the highest level in nearly two months.  The U.S. benchmark, WTI Crude, slipped below $65 per barrel and traded down by 2.02% at $64.36. More supply to the market, coming from Iraq’s semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan, and possibly more barrels from…

Saudi Arabia is expected to raise slightly the price of its flagship crude grade loading for Asia in November, to reflect stronger Middle Eastern oil benchmarks, refining sources told Reuters in a survey released on Monday.  The world’s top crude exporter will be tempted to increase its prices amid stronger international benchmarks in recent weeks, but it would also be careful not to hike the price too much amid ongoing discussions about the 2026 term supplies with customers, according to some of Reuters’ sources.  Saudi Arabia…

Saudi Arabia is expected to raise slightly the price of its flagship crude grade loading for Asia in November, to reflect stronger Middle Eastern oil benchmarks, refining sources told Reuters in a survey released on Monday.  The world’s top crude exporter will be tempted to increase its prices amid stronger international benchmarks in recent weeks, but it would also be careful not to hike the price too much amid ongoing discussions about the 2026 term supplies with customers, according to some of Reuters’ sources.  Saudi Arabia…

Occidental Petroleum is reportedly in talks to divest its petrochemicals division, OxyChem, in a deal that could be worth up to $10 billion and would create one of the largest independent petrochemicals companies in the world. The Financial Times wrote, citing unnamed sources in the know, that the deal could be wrapped up within a few weeks unless it hits a snag at the last moment, with the sources saying the talks could still fall through. “The identity of the buyer could not immediately be established,” the FT also noted. Oxy has…

We are in the final innings of the third quarter, and energy markets remain tepid amid bearish sentiment. Brent crude for November delivery was trading at $69.45 per barrel at 8.45 am ET on Friday, more than $10/bbl below the current year’s peak at ~81/bbl, while WTI crude was changing hands at $65.05 per barrel compared to the January peak of $78.71 per barrel. Oil prices have mostly traded ~15/bbl lower in 2025 compared to the previous year, primarily due to oversupply fears due to OPEC+ accelerating the unwinding of production cuts, coupled…

Rising crude supply from OPEC+ and South America and a marked increase in longer-haul routes have hiked freight rates for supertankers, the so-called very large crude carriers (VLCCs) capable of transporting up to 2 million barrels of oil, to levels last seen nearly three years ago. Tanker owners and shipbrokers expect the strength in the supertanker market to spill over to smaller-sized vessels such as Aframaxes and Suezmaxes and continue into the fourth quarter of the year. In recent weeks, VLCC rates on the benchmark Middle East-to-China route…

Are microreactors the future of nuclear energy? Someday, nuclear reactors the size of shipping containers could power your hometown, but a huge number of regulatory hurdles will have to be cleared before nuclear power starts popping up in your backyard – and public buy-in will be critical. After decades of relatively little change in nuclear power technology, there is currently a flurry of nuclear energy innovation taking place around the world. Scientists are looking into how to make nuclear power production more efficient, cost-effective,…

Porsche AG shares fell almost 10% last week—the steepest drop since its 2022 debut—after the carmaker scaled back its electric-vehicle ambitions. The stock is down nearly 30% this year and will fall out of Germany’s benchmark DAX index. Parent company Volkswagen also slid 8.4%, its sharpest drop in more than two years, according to Bloomberg. The 911 maker scrapped plans for a battery-powered luxury SUV and will instead expand its lineup of combustion-engine and hybrid cars. The shift triggered a €1.8 billion hit to operating…

As the dominant producer of enriched uranium, Russia became the world’s main supplier of the fuel needed to power nuclear energy projects, as many countries find it difficult to decrease their dependency on Moscow for the fuel. Russia supplies around 40 percent of the world’s enriched uranium, followed by China (17 percent), France (12 percent), the U.S. (11 percent), the Netherlands (8 percent), the U.K. (7 percent), and Germany (6 percent). Shifting dependence away from Russia has been very difficult, as alternative supplies simply…

Like financial services, advertising and marketing have been at the forefront of the net-zero push, making emission reduction commitments and demonstrating a readiness to pressure the energy industry to decarbonize. Also, like financial services, ad and marketing firms are backpedaling from net zero and eager to get Big Oil’s business. The Financial Times reported this week that advertisers are going the way of bankers in rephrasing their decarbonization messaging on websites and rediscovering the energy industry as a client - a well-paying…