Oil prices climbed Tuesday, hovering near two-week highs as markets absorbed the impact of a larger-than-expected OPEC+ production increase and ongoing uncertainty around US trade policy. As of mid-afternoon, Brent crude was up 89 cents at $70.47 per barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate rose 80 cents to $68.73. Both benchmarks are on track for their highest close since June 24. OPEC+ on Saturday approved a 548,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) production hike for August, outpacing the 411,000 bpd monthly increases seen earlier this summer. The move…

Relations between the five Central Asian countries and Afghanistan are warming as plans move ahead for new rail links, increased trade and creating opportunities for ordinary Afghans.  Central Asian states are prioritizing bringing Afghanistan back into the economic fold with increased connectivity and trade focused on practical cooperation that serves their economic interests and, ultimately, helps improve regional security, analysts say.  “We try to look on Afghanistan more pragmatically because if we build a wall around Afghanistan,…

Oil prices have inched up, but the EIA says don’t get used to it. The July Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) raised its 2025 Brent forecast by $3 to $69/bbl, citing a spike in geopolitical risk from the mid-June Iran nuclear conflict. But that bump is expected to be short-lived. With inventories building, the agency sees Brent falling to $58/bbl in 2026—a dollar lower than last month’s projection. Meanwhile, U.S. crude output is peaking. Production averaged just over 13.4 million bpd in Q2, an all-time high, but is expected to…

Oil prices have inched up, but the EIA says don’t get used to it. The July Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) raised its 2025 Brent forecast by $3 to $69/bbl, citing a spike in geopolitical risk from the mid-June Iran nuclear conflict. But that bump is expected to be short-lived. With inventories building, the agency sees Brent falling to $58/bbl in 2026—a dollar lower than last month’s projection. Meanwhile, U.S. crude output is peaking. Production averaged just over 13.4 million bpd in Q2, an all-time high, but is expected to…

US President Donald Trump on July 7 said the United States will send more weapons to Ukraine to help the war-torn country defend itself against Russian attacks. “We're going to send some more weapons. We have to," Trump told reporters at the White House. “They have to be able to defend themselves. They're getting hit very hard now.” The United States will send primarily defensive weapons, he said, speaking at the start of a dinner with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "At President Trump's direction, the Department of…

The bilateral relationship between the U.S. and Colombia has continued to worsen, with both countries recalling their top diplomats last week amid an alleged plot against Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro. Washington acted first, recalling charge d’affaires John McNamara on Thursday, with State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce saying the move was taken “following baseless and reprehensible statements from the highest levels of the government of Colombia.” Hours later, President Petro announced he was calling home ambassador…

Japanese car manufacturing giant Nissan Motor is revising down production plans for its new Leaf series electric vehicle as the Chinese controls on exports of rare earth elements have created a shortage of car parts, Kyodo News reported on Tuesday. The setback for Nissan’s new EV is the latest in a series of hurdles that carmakers globally have faced since China announced export controls of rare earths in early April. Suzuki Motor, another Japanese giant, has reportedly halted production of its flagship Swift subcompact because of supply…

Japanese car manufacturing giant Nissan Motor is revising down production plans for its new Leaf series electric vehicle as the Chinese controls on exports of rare earth elements have created a shortage of car parts, Kyodo News reported on Tuesday. The setback for Nissan’s new EV is the latest in a series of hurdles that carmakers globally have faced since China announced export controls of rare earths in early April. Suzuki Motor, another Japanese giant, has reportedly halted production of its flagship Swift subcompact because of supply…

Japanese car manufacturing giant Nissan Motor is revising down production plans for its new Leaf series electric vehicle as the Chinese controls on exports of rare earth elements have created a shortage of car parts, Kyodo News reported on Tuesday. The setback for Nissan’s new EV is the latest in a series of hurdles that carmakers globally have faced since China announced export controls of rare earths in early April. Suzuki Motor, another Japanese giant, has reportedly halted production of its flagship Swift subcompact because of supply…

Oil prices have remained elevated at the start of this week despite expectations that OPEC+ will approve another big production boost for September.- Diesel was widely expected to be the main refined products underperformer this year but, defying Trump tariffs and lower Chinese demand, the middle distillate has been shining lately as Europe struggles to keep its refinery operations steady.- The front-month diesel East-West price spread rose to more than $73 per metric tonne this week, the widest it has been since December 2023, just as the ICE…

The European Parliament approved on Tuesday eased rules and targets for natural gas storage refills in the EU in a move aimed at preventing price spikes. Earlier this year, the EU member states agreed to ease the bloc’s natural gas storage targets by allowing a 10 percentage point deviation in the 90% full storage goal. The greater flexibility comes in response to the fears of several large gas-consuming nations in Europe that they would have to either subsidize storage filling when it’s uneconomical or miss the targets. The new targets…

Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC) has signed agreements with supermajors BP and Shell to explore and evaluate the oil and gas potential of several fields in the African country, marking another step in Big Oil returning to doing business in Libya. NOC signed this week a memorandum of understanding with BP under which the UK-based supermajor will conduct studies to assess the potential for hydrocarbon exploration and production in the Messla and Sarir fields, as well as in some surrounding exploration areas. Separately, the Libyan oil…

As U.S. LNG exporters expand plants and propose new facilities along the Texas and Louisiana coasts, an unlikely domestic bottleneck could delay capacity expansions and growth in America’s LNG exports.  Crowded waterways along the Louisiana coast, where many new projects will be located, could create constraints to shipping LNG cargoes out of the U.S. Gulf Coast, potentially undermining the Trump Administration’s strong support for boosting LNG exports.  Six LNG export projects in total are either operational or proposed along…

China has been buying mining operations around the world for years to sate its appetite for raw materials, which remains much stronger than what it can produce domestically. Over the past couple of years, however, this shopping spree has accelerated—Chinese investors are in a rush. In 2023, Chinese companies invested some $16 billion in mines globally, and this did not include minority stake purchases, the Economist reported in November last year. The publication listed several large deals, including a $5-billion investment in a copper mine…

The global oil market has entered a period of increasing volatility, with unpredictable supply, deceptive demand signals, and factors such as geopolitical uncertainty and souring economic sentiment all tugging at prices. Crude flat prices have been somewhat volatile but have on the whole suffered over the last month or two. Diesel timespreads (or “spreads”), which measure the physical need either to store barrels or release barrels from storage, have historically been a reliable indicator of broader market trends and of economic growth.…

The previous article discussed global and regional carbon emission trends. Today, I take a closer look at the world’s ten biggest carbon emitters. Carbon emissions are typically measured in metric tons, but context matters. To better understand the cause and impact of a country’s carbon emissions, we must look at emissions per capita and carbon productivity—how efficiently nations generate economic output from each ton of CO2-equivalent emissions (defined in the previous article) released.   A Deeper Look at the World’s…

Via Metal Miner The Rare Earths MMI (Monthly Metals Index) moved sideways, rising a modest 0.66%. Meanwhile, prices for rare earths may experience short-term stabilization in the upcoming months, primarily due to President Trump reaching an agreement with China to ease restrictions on critical mineral exports. U.S.–China Strike Deal to End Export Freeze on Rare Earths In a recent developments, Beijing and Washington agreed to lift China’s export curbs on rare earth minerals. The June 27 agreement will allow shipments of Chinese rare…

A Greek-operated bulk carrier was attacked in the Red Sea on Monday in the second Houthi strike on commercial shipping in less than 24 hours, stoking fears of a renewed escalation in one of the world’s most critical oil transit corridors, Arab and Israel media report. The Eternity C, a Liberia-flagged vessel managed by Athens-based Cosmoship, was hit off Yemen’s Hodeidah coast using a combination of sea drones, rocket-propelled grenades, and small arms. Two seafarers were seriously injured and two more are missing, according to shipping…

A Greek-operated bulk carrier was attacked in the Red Sea on Monday in the second Houthi strike on commercial shipping in less than 24 hours, stoking fears of a renewed escalation in one of the world’s most critical oil transit corridors, Arab and Israel media report. The Eternity C, a Liberia-flagged vessel managed by Athens-based Cosmoship, was hit off Yemen’s Hodeidah coast using a combination of sea drones, rocket-propelled grenades, and small arms. Two seafarers were seriously injured and two more are missing, according to shipping…

Octopus Energy founder Greg Jackson has accused his opponents of “gaslighting” ahead of an imminent decision by ministers on whether to split up the UK’s power market. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is expected to draw a line under the zonal pricing debate as early as this week after months of increasingly fierce lobbying from both sides. It is understood the government is leaning towards keeping the status-quo in a victory for Jackson’s opposition, which include Scottish renewable power giant SSE, the trade association…