The Taliban, who govern Afghanistan, are working with Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to create a regional energy trade hub that would facilitate oil sales from Russia to South Asia, Taliban acting commerce minister Nooruddin Azizi told Reuters this week. Representatives of Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan have recently discussed in Kabul the idea of creating an energy and logistics hub in the Herat province in western Afghanistan. The three countries plan to invest in the hub, which is expected to be a hub for oil from Russia to the…

The Taliban, who govern Afghanistan, are working with Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to create a regional energy trade hub that would facilitate oil sales from Russia to South Asia, Taliban acting commerce minister Nooruddin Azizi told Reuters this week. Representatives of Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan have recently discussed in Kabul the idea of creating an energy and logistics hub in the Herat province in western Afghanistan. The three countries plan to invest in the hub, which is expected to be a hub for oil from Russia to the…

The Taliban, who govern Afghanistan, are working with Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to create a regional energy trade hub that would facilitate oil sales from Russia to South Asia, Taliban acting commerce minister Nooruddin Azizi told Reuters this week. Representatives of Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan have recently discussed in Kabul the idea of creating an energy and logistics hub in the Herat province in western Afghanistan. The three countries plan to invest in the hub, which is expected to be a hub for oil from Russia to the…

Having adversely intervened in virtually every other M&A deal in the past 3 years, the Biden FTC will reportedly allow Exxon's $60 billion purchase of Pioneer to go through after the companies agreed to minor concessions, Bloomberg reported citing people familiar with the matter. The announcement of the deal will likely come any moment, and the resulting deal will make Exxon - a company which Biden once said makes money money than god - far and away the biggest oil and natural gas producer in the Permian Basin, North America’s largest…

Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE: CNQ), the top oil and gas producer in Canada, reported lower-than-expected earnings for the first quarter, dragged down by weaker prices for synthetic crude oil and natural gas. Canadian Natural Resources reported on Thursday adjusted net earnings per share of US$1.00 (C$1.37), compared to the average analyst estimate of US$1.08 (C$1.48) per share, according to LSEG data cited by Reuters. While realized prices for crude were slightly higher than in Q4 2023, the realized natural gas prices and synthetic…

Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE: CNQ), the top oil and gas producer in Canada, reported lower-than-expected earnings for the first quarter, dragged down by weaker prices for synthetic crude oil and natural gas. Canadian Natural Resources reported on Thursday adjusted net earnings per share of US$1.00 (C$1.37), compared to the average analyst estimate of US$1.08 (C$1.48) per share, according to LSEG data cited by Reuters. While realized prices for crude were slightly higher than in Q4 2023, the realized natural gas prices and synthetic…

The United Arab Emirates state-owned oil company, Adnoc, has updated its maximum crude oil production capacity figure—and without much fanfare. ADNOC has quietly updated the figure on its website but did not make an official announcement. The new capacity is 4.85 million barrels per day (bpd)—up from the 4.65 million bpd that it published in 2023. Its published natural gas production capacity is 11.5 bcf per day. ADNOC has plans to increase its oil production capacity to 5 million bpd by 2027—a target the state-owned…

Norway saw cash flow from its stakes in oil and gas fields nearly halve in the first quarter of 2024 compared to the same period of 2023, as natural gas prices slumped and gas consumption in Europe was below expectations, said state company Petoro, which manages field holdings of Western Europe’s top oil and gas producer. In the first quarter of the year, Petoro delivered a cash flow of $5.4 billion (60 billion Norwegian crowns) from the State's Direct Financial Interest (SDFI) to Norway. The cash flow was $5.14 billion (57 billion…

Energy markets have kicked off the new month on the back foot, with oil prices sliding 3% in Wednesday’s intraday session following a surprise U.S. inventory build amid lingering uncertainty about future oil demand growth.  Weekly data by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reveals crude stockpiles of 7.3 million barrels for the week to April 26, a sharp swing from a draw of 6.4 million barrels posted the previous week.   That marks the highest inventory levels since last June. Meanwhile, the Fed is expected…

We are nearly halfway through the earnings season, with 46% of S&P 500 companies having returned their first quarter scorecards. According to FactSet data, 77% of S&P 500 companies have exceeded earnings expectations while 60% have reported a positive revenue surprise.  Unfortunately, the energy sector has underperformed the market, thanks in large part to lower oil and gas prices. The Energy sector is reporting the second-largest (year-over-year) earnings decline of all 11 market sectors at -25.5% while Q1 2024 revenue growth…

Permian producers are not shutting in oil wells with associated natural gas despite the fact that the Texas regional gas price has been stuck at below-zero levels since early March. Major pipeline operators in the Permian basin haven't yet seen any effect of the negative gas prices at the Waha hub in West Texas on activity as producers are look to maximize oil realizations at West Texas Intermediate crude prices at above $80 per barrel. But the U.S. natural gas benchmark, Henry Hub, has been depressed below $2.00 per million British thermal…

The future of the global energy sector is caught up in a messy and misleading ideological debate. Depending on which politically informed echo chamber one inevitably finds themself confined to on social media, they are either told that the energy transition is a dangerous myth that will end in economic disaster and permanent rolling blackouts, or that clean energy is going to save the world overnight – as soon as conservatives get out of the way. As usual, the truth lies somewhere in between.  The energy transition is strictly necessary.…

  Despite significant advancements in its renewable energy sector, the United Kingdom is lagging way behind where it needs to be in terms of clean energy development. The country needs a dramatic acceleration – more than double its recurrent rate – of clean energy deployment if it is to have any hope of meeting its own ambitious climate goals, which include a legally binding pledge to reach net zero by 2050. While the urgency and steepness of this acceleration curve grows greater every year, however, a lukewarm policy…

Beleaguered Texas-based Freeport LNG saw a second tanker leave for export on Wednesday, less than a week after the first, as the liquified natural gas plant recovers from a series of outages over the past month and a half, Reuters reports.  According to the news agency, citing data from financial firm LSEG, the Wilforce LNG tanker departed the Freeport terminal with a load of 85% of its capacity. Wilforce was preceded on April 23 by the departure of the first tanker in almost two weeks to have loaded Freeport LNG. As of Wednesday, Reuters…

Beleaguered Texas-based Freeport LNG saw a second tanker leave for export on Wednesday, less than a week after the first, as the liquified natural gas plant recovers from a series of outages over the past month and a half, Reuters reports.  According to the news agency, citing data from financial firm LSEG, the Wilforce LNG tanker departed the Freeport terminal with a load of 85% of its capacity. Wilforce was preceded on April 23 by the departure of the first tanker in almost two weeks to have loaded Freeport LNG. As of Wednesday, Reuters…

National Institute for Materials Science, Japan scientists have succeeded in simulating the magnetization reversal of Nd-Fe-B (neodymium iron boron) magnets. The simulation was made possible by using large-scale finite element models construction based on tomographic data obtained by electron microscopy. The research paper discussing the work has been published in the journal npj Computational Materials. a Acquisition of a series of FIB-SEM images for a hot-deformed Nd-Fe-B magnet (cropped area of 0.8 × 0.8 µm2…

Exports from the expansion of Canada’s TransMountain pipeline expansion project that launched on Wednesday may come in at only half of what the federal government is projecting, Canadian media have quoted traders and shippers as saying, citing loading restrictions and pilot and tub boat availability.  The Canadian government has projected that the TransMountain pipeline expansion project, which cost nearly $23 billion to complete, will triple the capacity of the original pipeline to 890,000 barrels per day (bpd) from 300,000…

Exports from the expansion of Canada’s TransMountain pipeline expansion project that launched on Wednesday may come in at only half of what the federal government is projecting, Canadian media have quoted traders and shippers as saying, citing loading restrictions and pilot and tub boat availability.  The Canadian government has projected that the TransMountain pipeline expansion project, which cost nearly $23 billion to complete, will triple the capacity of the original pipeline to 890,000 barrels per day (bpd) from 300,000…

New figures confirmed that the manufacturing sector slipped back into contraction in April as the sector suffered from uncertain demand and disruption in the Red Sea. S&P’s purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for the manufacturing sector showed a reading of 49.1 in April, slightly higher than the ‘flash’ estimate of 48.7 but down from 50.3 in March. The 50 mark separates growth from contraction. The survey confirmed that the manufacturing sector slipped back into contraction after March’s slight uptick. Prior to last…

Shell exited the Chinese power generation and trading markets effective end-2023, as it scales back its power business globally to focus on more profitable operations, the UK-based supermajor told Reuters on Wednesday. Shell, however, is not abandoning its EV charging business in China, which it sees as a major growth market, a spokesperson for Shell told Reuters. “We are selectively investing in power, focusing on delivering value from our power portfolio, which requires making difficult choices,” the supermajor said in a…