Officials are in damage-control mode in Georgia after the supposed unauthorized publication of a late 2025 state decree showing that the government’s reliance on Russian natural gas imports is growing and Tbilisi is now paying more for Russian imports than it has in the past. Earlier in January, Russia’s state-owned Gazprom announced it supplied 40.4 percent more gas to Georgia in 2025 than in the previous year. This surge can be seen within a broader Russian strategy to increase energy exports southward to partially offset…

A joint venture operated by U.S. supermajor Chevron has made an oil and gas discovery offshore Nigeria as international majors bolster exploration amid the top African producer’s efforts to boost hydrocarbon output and offer more favorable terms for investments.   The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) on Monday commended Chevron Nigeria Limited (CNL), operator of the NNPC Ltd/CNL joint venture, on the successful completion of the Awodi-07 appraisal and exploration well located in the shallow offshore western Niger…

At present, Europe is still telling itself a very comforting story. The main theme is that the Russian gas shock has been absorbed, storage is full, and prices are manageable. At the same time, politicians keep stating that diversification has delivered “energy independence.” While repeating this with confidence doesn’t, however, make it true. Behind all these political slogans, Europe’s gas strategy is increasingly showing that it has been built on a fallacy. The latter is clear and steadily unravelling. At present, a new,…

A joint venture operated by U.S. supermajor Chevron has made an oil and gas discovery offshore Nigeria as international majors bolster exploration amid the top African producer’s efforts to boost hydrocarbon output and offer more favorable terms for investments.   The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) on Monday commended Chevron Nigeria Limited (CNL), operator of the NNPC Ltd/CNL joint venture, on the successful completion of the Awodi-07 appraisal and exploration well located in the shallow offshore western Niger…

OPEC+ is expected to hold oil production flat in March and reiterate the first-quarter pause in supply hikes when the group meets on February 1 to discuss output levels, four delegates from the alliance told Bloomberg on Monday.   The group has not yet held discussions ahead of next Sunday’s online meeting, but it does not see any need of changing the policy despite the expected oversupply and the geopolitical developments that could influence supply from OPEC members Iran and Venezuela. Early this month, the eight OPEC+ members…

Russia and China seem unfazed by the U.S. and European sanctions on Russia’s Arctic LNG 2 project as deliveries continue into the new year. The Chinese Beihai LNG terminal has welcomed the first cargo of 2026 from the Russian project, Reuters reported on Monday, citing data from LSEG. The Buran LNG carrier loaded LNG from a floating storage unit near Murmansk on December 25 and has traveled via the Suez Canal route to China, according to the LSEG data. The Arctic LNG 2 operator, Russia’s Novatek, has started using the Suez Canal route…

U.S. natural gas prices on Monday extended their remarkable 70% rally from last week as the big freeze pushes heating and power demand to winter records. Early on Monday, the front-month U.S. natural gas benchmark price had jumped by 14% to above the threshold of $6 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) as gas demand surged to very high levels. This was the first time since 2022 that the price of U.S. natural gas has soared above $6 per MMBtu, and nearly double the price at the start of last week. The major storm also led to shut-ins of about…

U.S. natural gas prices on Monday extended their remarkable 70% rally from last week as the big freeze pushes heating and power demand to winter records. Early on Monday, the front-month U.S. natural gas benchmark price had jumped by 14% to above the threshold of $6 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) as gas demand surged to very high levels. This was the first time since 2022 that the price of U.S. natural gas has soared above $6 per MMBtu, and nearly double the price at the start of last week. The major storm also led to shut-ins of about…

U.S. natural gas prices on Monday extended their remarkable 70% rally from last week as the big freeze pushes heating and power demand to winter records. Early on Monday, the front-month U.S. natural gas benchmark price had jumped by 14% to above the threshold of $6 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) as gas demand surged to very high levels. This was the first time since 2022 that the price of U.S. natural gas has soared above $6 per MMBtu, and nearly double the price at the start of last week. The major storm also led to shut-ins of about…

Ukraine, Russia, and the United States are set to resume negotiations in Abu Dhabi next week after two days of what officials described as “constructive” peace talks, even as the war shows no signs of easing. On January 23-24, "the United States coordinated a trilateral meeting alongside Ukraine and Russia, graciously hosted by the United Arab Emirates," White House envoy Steve Witkoff wrote on X. "Talks were very constructive, and plans were made to continue conversations next week in Abu Dhabi. President [Donald] Trump and his entire…

Almost 100% of oil market analysts see the market as oversupplied this year, just as it was oversupplied last year. The size of the supply overhang, however, matters. Led by the International Energy Agency, a lot of analysts predicted that the overhang at millions of barrels. Then the IEA had to revise its prediction—again. Because demand turned out to be stronger than expected. In its latest Oil Market Report, released earlier this week, the International Energy Agency forecast global oil demand would expand by 930,000 barrels daily in 2026.…

Recently, U.S. President Donald Trump claimed that the UK has 500 years of oil reserves left in the North Sea, and blamed the country’s high energy prices on the government’s unwillingness to drill. However, the unfortunate fact is that the North Sea oil and gas sector has been in a significant and prolonged decline due to the basin's aging oil fields, with production falling sharply since its peak in the early 2000s. According to the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA), the UK's energy regulator, the North Sea had ~2.9 billion barrels…

As several countries invest in expanding their liquid natural gas (LNG) production and export capacity, and significant quantities of the gas are expected to come online in 2026 after a record 2025, supply could soon outpace demand. This begs the question: just how much LNG is needed to “fill the gap” as the world develops its renewable energy capacity?  Last year was a record year for LNG trade, as exports exceeded the quantities predicted in several industry forecasts. The expansion of the world’s LNG trade has been led…

The global clean energy transition has passed a tipping point as renewable energies have simply become too cheap to fail. Worldwide, nations both rich and poor are rushing to install more and more wind and solar capacity to keep up with rising energy demand rates driven by global economic development and the age of AI. But while countries have been investing heavily into increased production capacity, investments in critical grid infrastructure have not kept pace, leading to a major energy transition bottleneck and a potential threat to energy…

The Trump Administration continues to revise, restructure, and cancel billions of U.S. dollars of Biden-era loans and funding commitments to clean energy projects as the United States shifted its policy to supporting fossil fuels and nuclear power as part of its energy dominance agenda. In the latest instalment of canceled or revised funding, the Department of Energy this week announced that the Office of Energy Dominance Financing (EDF), previously known as the Loan Programs Office (LPO), is restructuring, revising, or eliminating more than $83…

Despite President Trump’s big promises of driving down consumer energy bills, the cost of energy actually rose for consumers in 2025. Throughout his electoral campaign and during his first year in office, Trump pledged to slash Americans’ energy bills. However, his new approach to energy seems to have done the opposite, with higher prices expected for 2026 and beyond.  Upon entering office for his second term, President Trump announced a state of energy emergency, quickly passing executive orders to curb the rollout of former-President…

Alongside plans to establish a strong renewable energy sector, Japan aims to redevelop its nuclear energy capacity to boost its power and support its climate goals. However, with memories of the Fukushima nuclear disaster still fresh, many in Japan are worried about the risks involved with developing the country’s nuclear capacity. Nevertheless, the government has big plans for a new nuclear era, commencing with the restarting of the world’s biggest nuclear facility.  The 2011 Fukushima Daiichi accident is viewed as the second-worst…

The global electric vehicle transition is currently being sold as a triumph of mineral procurement and gigafactory scaling... a narrative where lithium mines and nickel refineries are the only hurdles between us and a decarbonized fleet.  But while the industry fixates on the battery, it is ignoring the passive electronic components that must handle the violent throughput of high-voltage energy. The market for EV capacitors has ballooned to $5.32 billion. This growth is a symptom of a technical crisis.  The shift to 800V architectures…

Latin America is catching the eyes of investors worldwide when it comes to mining, as the region has vast critical mineral reserves and low operating costs. The region is home to the “lithium triangle”, as well as vast copper, zinc, and other mineral reserves, making it highly attractive to investors looking to strengthen their supply chains as the global demand for these materials increases. In the first three quarters of 2025, global mining mergers achieved $30 billion, with 74 percent of this value going into Latin America, according…

Between 2000 and 2020, the European Union watched its share of global industrial output slide from 20.8% to 14.3%. This 6.5% gap represents the sound of capital fleeing the high energy costs of the Rhine for the subsidized certainty of the Yangtze and the American South. Now, the European Commission is attempting to legislate a reversal of this decline. The upcoming Industrial Accelerator Act (IAA), now delayed until February 25, is a document of profound anxiety. It’s a pivot toward protectionism that would have been unthinkable in Brussels…