PetroChina has agreed to buy three natural gas storage facilities from its state-owned parent CNPC for ¥40 billion (US$5.59 billion), adding nearly 11 billion cubic meters of working capacity to its portfolio. It’s a deal that looks less like housekeeping between affiliates and more like a signal of where China’s biggest oil and gas firm sees the energy market heading. The company’s timing is no accident. PetroChina reported first-half 2025 profit of US$11.75 billion, down 5.4% year-on-year as weaker crude prices and slumping…

PetroChina has agreed to buy three natural gas storage facilities from its state-owned parent CNPC for ¥40 billion (US$5.59 billion), adding nearly 11 billion cubic meters of working capacity to its portfolio. It’s a deal that looks less like housekeeping between affiliates and more like a signal of where China’s biggest oil and gas firm sees the energy market heading. The company’s timing is no accident. PetroChina reported first-half 2025 profit of US$11.75 billion, down 5.4% year-on-year as weaker crude prices and slumping…

PetroChina has agreed to buy three natural gas storage facilities from its state-owned parent CNPC for ¥40 billion (US$5.59 billion), adding nearly 11 billion cubic meters of working capacity to its portfolio. It’s a deal that looks less like housekeeping between affiliates and more like a signal of where China’s biggest oil and gas firm sees the energy market heading. The company’s timing is no accident. PetroChina reported first-half 2025 profit of US$11.75 billion, down 5.4% year-on-year as weaker crude prices and slumping…

The U.S. government is overhauling undersea cable rules for the first time since 2001, tightening restrictions to keep companies linked to adversaries such as China, Russia, and Iran out of the supply chain, according to Nikkei Asia. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved proposed rules that bar adversary-based firms from working on U.S.-owned undersea cables or supplying related equipment. Approved companies will need cybersecurity plans and must certify their supply chains are free of such entities. To encourage investment, the…

India is dusting off its idle gas-fired power plants, not because they’re suddenly cheap, but because peak demand in the blistering months of May and June may leave the grid gasping. An adviser to the power ministry said this week the government is weighing a plan to run the costly plants only as seasonal back-up. Gas has become the ugly duckling of India’s power mix. Once good for 3% of generation in 2020, its share has shriveled to about 1.5% thanks to prices bouncing between $8 and $18 per million British thermal units. Coal—far…

India is dusting off its idle gas-fired power plants, not because they’re suddenly cheap, but because peak demand in the blistering months of May and June may leave the grid gasping. An adviser to the power ministry said this week the government is weighing a plan to run the costly plants only as seasonal back-up. Gas has become the ugly duckling of India’s power mix. Once good for 3% of generation in 2020, its share has shriveled to about 1.5% thanks to prices bouncing between $8 and $18 per million British thermal units. Coal—far…

India is dusting off its idle gas-fired power plants, not because they’re suddenly cheap, but because peak demand in the blistering months of May and June may leave the grid gasping. An adviser to the power ministry said this week the government is weighing a plan to run the costly plants only as seasonal back-up. Gas has become the ugly duckling of India’s power mix. Once good for 3% of generation in 2020, its share has shriveled to about 1.5% thanks to prices bouncing between $8 and $18 per million British thermal units. Coal—far…

Every few months, the noise from across the Atlantic starts up again: drill baby drill. Burn what you’ve got. Reopen the rigs. Don’t let the transition ruin a good oil boom. And now, the suggestion is that Europe should follow suit, start drilling in the North Sea like it’s 1973, maybe even get Groningen going again and pretend this is a real strategy. Let’s be fair. This message comes from a place of deep ideological and economic alignment with fossil fuel producers. It’s understandable if you’re financially,…

PetroChina, the largest oil and gas producer in China, reported on Tuesday a 5.4% decline in first-half profit as oil prices fell from a year earlier and domestic fuel demand continued to be pressured by the rise in new-energy vehicle sales.  PetroChina booked $11.75 billion (84 billion Chinese yuan) in profit for the first half of the year, down by 5.4% from the record-high profit for same period last year.  Amid lower benchmark oil prices, PetroChina’s average realized crude oil price was $66.21 per barrel between January and…

PetroChina, the largest oil and gas producer in China, reported on Tuesday a 5.4% decline in first-half profit as oil prices fell from a year earlier and domestic fuel demand continued to be pressured by the rise in new-energy vehicle sales.  PetroChina booked $11.75 billion (84 billion Chinese yuan) in profit for the first half of the year, down by 5.4% from the record-high profit for same period last year.  Amid lower benchmark oil prices, PetroChina’s average realized crude oil price was $66.21 per barrel between January and…

PetroChina, the largest oil and gas producer in China, reported on Tuesday a 5.4% decline in first-half profit as oil prices fell from a year earlier and domestic fuel demand continued to be pressured by the rise in new-energy vehicle sales.  PetroChina booked $11.75 billion (84 billion Chinese yuan) in profit for the first half of the year, down by 5.4% from the record-high profit for same period last year.  Amid lower benchmark oil prices, PetroChina’s average realized crude oil price was $66.21 per barrel between January and…

In this week’s newsletter, we will take a quick look at some of the critical figures and data in the energy markets this week.  We will then look at some of the key market movers early this week before providing you with the latest analysis of the top news events taking place in the global energy complex over the past few days. We hope you enjoy. Seoul Mates in Energy: U.S. Powers Up South Korea - The official visit of South Korea’s President Lee Jae-myung to the US marked one of the highlights of Trump’s tariff deals as…

Crude oil trade has started to see the effect of a recent ban by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on cargoes originating from Sudan, after the two countries severed ties earlier this year.    In May this year, Sudan severed ties with the UAE, having repeatedly accused it of backing the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group which took up arms against the Sudanese army in the latest conflict in Sudan that erupted in April 2023.  Sudan accused the Gulf state and key OPEC oil producer of “ongoing aggression”…

When a swarm of 39 Russian drones attacked a compressor station in southern Ukraine this month, it was a sign of how Russia has shifted the focus of its attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. The attack came less than two weeks after Ukraine signed a deal to buy natural gas from Azerbaijan for the first time. The target was critical for importing the fuel from southern Europe along the Trans-Balkan corridor and into the country. It was the latest in a series of attacks on Ukraine’s natural gas infrastructure this year, a sharp…

President Trump has fired Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, citing alleged improprieties in her mortgage applications, in a stunning escalation of his campaign against the independence of the U.S. central bank. In a letter posted late Monday, Trump told Cook she was being removed “effective immediately,” arguing there was “sufficient reason” to believe she had falsified mortgage documents when purchasing homes in Michigan and Georgia in 2021. Trump invoked both the U.S. Constitution and the Federal Reserve Act, which allows…

Shares of Shuangdeng Group surged in their Hong Kong debut this week, underscoring investor enthusiasm for Chinese battery makers as demand for electric vehicles and energy storage continues to climb. Trading under the ticker 6960, the stock opened at HK$22.50, a 55% premium to its issue price of HK$14.51, making it one of the most successful IPOs in the city this year. Chairman Yang Rui celebrated the listing on August 26 by striking the ceremonial gong, declaring that Shuangdeng was “lucky to be riding two tremendous waves” - artificial…

Last week, oil traders cut their bullish bets on crude to the lowest in 16 years on expectations of a glut. Mostly because many forecasters were reporting a looming glut. Yet the moment something threatens any portion of the world’s oil supply, prices jump. So, where’s the glut? Mostly, the glut is in the forecasts published by the International Energy Agency and various net-zero organizations. The problem with these forecasts is that they often ignore data that contradicts their message that the transition to net zero is advancing.…

There has been much excitement in recent days among those who know nothing much worth knowing about the use that the long-running ban on oil sales from the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) to Turkey may be lifted soon. Supposedly, the government of the Erbil-based semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan (the KRG) and the Baghdad-based Federal Government of Iraq (FGI) have agreed on a new mechanism for oil exports from the Kurdistan Region to the Turkish port of Ceyhan. Under the agreement, 50,000 barrels per day (bpd) will be reserved for domestic use…

Plutonium material from dismantled U.S. nuclear warheads from the Cold War could be offered to American power firms as a fuel to potentially use in advanced nuclear technologies, under a draft plan of the Trump Administration.    The U.S. does not use plutonium in nuclear power facilities. In the past, plutonium has been converted into fuel for commercial reactors in the United States only for short test runs.  Now the Trump Administration, which looks to give impetus to nuclear energy, considers making available 20 metric tons…

U.S. President Donald Trump is taking India to task, and we are a long way from what then-President Barack Obama called a "defining partnership of the 21st century." But India’s neighbor, and enemy, and America’s frenemy, escaped Trump’s ire. Why? Despite a successful visit to India by Vice-President J.D. Vance in April 2025, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the White House in February 2025, Trump hit India, America’s #12 trade partner, with two rounds of 25% tariffs. (Pakistan’s tariff of 19%,…