Iran will not compromise its national security but is open to talks aimed at reaching a “peaceful” nuclear deal with the United States, Iranian deputy foreign minister, Saeed Khatibzadeh, said on Tuesday.  The U.S. and Iran held several rounds of negotiations early this year, before the U.S. bombed Iranian nuclear sites in June.  Throughout the talks prior to the bombings, Iran’s uranium enrichment efforts were a major sticking point, with the U.S. insisting that enrichment is a “very, very clear red line.” …

A month ago, Chinese oil heavyweight CNOOC boasted its pipeline network had hit 10,000 kilometers. That network was going to further grow to 13,000 km, the company said soon after it announced a fresh offshore discovery in the South China Sea. What CNOOC is doing is what all Chinese oil majors are doing: ramping up domestic supply of oil and gas. It is the safest kind of supply. Chinese state energy companies have spent some $468 billion on exploration and production since 2019, Bloomberg reported earlier this month, noting that the amount was…

Venezuela’s economy is in tatters, putting additional pressure on the country’s embattled leader, Nicolas Maduro, at a time when the U.S. Administration is increasing its military presence in the Caribbean region and striking alleged drug boats offshore the world’s largest crude oil reserves holder.    The economic collapse of Venezuela, exacerbated by the U.S. sanctions on its oil industry and exports, has left many Venezuelans increasingly disillusioned with the regime and supporting an ousting of Maduro. …

Lately, big tech cheerleaders, including Meta Platforms’ (NASDAQ:META) Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon’s (NASDAQ:AMZN) Jeff Bezos and OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman, have warned we are in an AI bubble, with stock market valuations, heavy speculation and market exuberance beginning to mirror those of the dot-com era that eventually led to the famous stock market crash 25 years ago. Meta has announced plans to spend over $100 billion on AI and infrastructure in the coming three years; Apple plans to invest more than $500 billion in the U.S. over…

Russia’s second-largest oil producer Lukoil is withdrawing from its core energy interests in Iraq following the recent tightening of the sanctions noose around the country by the West. The latest prohibitions introduced by the U.S. on 22 October included measures directly aimed at Lukoil, and Russia’s top oil producer Rosneft. Between them, the two companies export approximately 3.1 million barrels of oil per day, which the West sees as vital to Russia’s ability to keep funding its war in Ukraine. Lukoil’s almost immediate…

The global precious metals market is projected to grow by over USD 95 billion in the next five years, driven primarily by sustained investor demand for safe-haven assets and increasing industrial use in rapidly expanding technologies, according to a new report from Mordor Intelligence. The market size, which was valued at $290.34 billion in 2025, is forecast to reach $386.16 billion by 2030. This expansion reflects a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.87%, the research firm stated. Growth is being supported by a combination of investors seeking…

Oil prices steadied on Monday as Washington moved toward ending a 40-day government shutdown, offering a modest boost to demand expectations but leaving markets weighed by oversupply signals and still plenty of uncertainty.  On Monday at 1:42p.m. ET, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) traded at $59.99 a barrel, up 0.40%, while Brent crude was up 0.56% to $63.92. Murban crude stood at $66.25, and U.S. natural gas slipped 0.35% to $4.330 per million Btu. The U.S. Senate advanced a funding bill late Sunday expected to reopen federal agencies and restore…

Contrary to popular belief, oil prices aren’t determined by any one country, company, or cartel. Instead, they’re the product of a global tug-of-war among producers, traders, and policymakers. It’s a market defined not just by physics, but by psychology, where the actions of a few key players can ripple across the world in a matter of hours. On November 2nd, OPEC+ announced a modest 137,000 barrel-per-day production increase for December, followed by a pause on further increases in the first quarter of 2026. The move surprised…

Renault is in talks with a Chinese supplier to develop electric-vehicle motors that do not rely on rare earth elements, Reuters reported on Monday, in a move that comes as China lifts a nearly year-long ban on exports of gallium, germanium, and antimony to the United States and a day after Beijing said it would suspend new restrictions on rare-earth and battery-metal exports for one year. Sources told Reuters the French carmaker seeks a long-term technology partnership to replace permanent-magnet motors with copper-based designs already in pilot…

Renault is in talks with a Chinese supplier to develop electric-vehicle motors that do not rely on rare earth elements, Reuters reported on Monday, in a move that comes as China lifts a nearly year-long ban on exports of gallium, germanium, and antimony to the United States and a day after Beijing said it would suspend new restrictions on rare-earth and battery-metal exports for one year. Sources told Reuters the French carmaker seeks a long-term technology partnership to replace permanent-magnet motors with copper-based designs already in pilot…

Renault is in talks with a Chinese supplier to develop electric-vehicle motors that do not rely on rare earth elements, Reuters reported on Monday, in a move that comes as China lifts a nearly year-long ban on exports of gallium, germanium, and antimony to the United States and a day after Beijing said it would suspend new restrictions on rare-earth and battery-metal exports for one year. Sources told Reuters the French carmaker seeks a long-term technology partnership to replace permanent-magnet motors with copper-based designs already in pilot…

The Trump administration has released full financial terms for its first “Big Beautiful Gulf” offshore oil and gas auction, setting a 12.5% royalty rate and offering nearly 80 million acres across the Gulf of Mexico, according to a new release from the U.S. Department of the Interior on Monday. The details mark the first concrete pricing framework under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, following the August announcement of a decades-long offshore leasing calendar that included at least 30 Gulf sales and six in Alaska’s Cook Inlet. …

Norway’s $2.1-trillion oil fund is looking to invest in renewable energy assets in the U.S. and expand its clean energy portfolio in Europe, a senior executive at the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund told Bloomberg in an interview published on Monday. The fund has recently hired three people in New York, Harald von Heyden, global head of energy and infrastructure at the Norwegian fund, told Bloomberg.   The Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG), which is commonly referred to as ‘Norway’s oil fund’ because…

There's an old adage in Washington: Don't believe anything until it is officially denied. Now that the Trump administration's so-called artificial intelligence (AI) czar, David Sacks, has gone on record stating that "[t]here will be no federal bailout for AI," we can begin speculating about what form that bailout might take. It turns out that the chief financial officer of AI behemoth OpenAI has already put forth an idea regarding the form of such a bailout. Sarah Friar told The Wall Street Journal in a recorded interview that…

U.S. LNG exporter Venture Global (NYSE: VG) booked a net income for the third quarter, compared to a loss a year earlier, as revenues and LNG exports soared amid rising liquefaction capacity at its plants.  Venture Global, the second-largest U.S. LNG exporter behind Cheniere, on Monday reported a net income attributable to common stockholders of $429 million for the third quarter, versus a loss of $347 million for the same period of 2024.   Revenues soared by 260% and income from operations surged by 598% as Venture Global’s…

U.S. LNG exporter Venture Global (NYSE: VG) booked a net income for the third quarter, compared to a loss a year earlier, as revenues and LNG exports soared amid rising liquefaction capacity at its plants.  Venture Global, the second-largest U.S. LNG exporter behind Cheniere, on Monday reported a net income attributable to common stockholders of $429 million for the third quarter, versus a loss of $347 million for the same period of 2024.   Revenues soared by 260% and income from operations surged by 598% as Venture Global’s…

U.S. LNG exporter Venture Global (NYSE: VG) booked a net income for the third quarter, compared to a loss a year earlier, as revenues and LNG exports soared amid rising liquefaction capacity at its plants.  Venture Global, the second-largest U.S. LNG exporter behind Cheniere, on Monday reported a net income attributable to common stockholders of $429 million for the third quarter, versus a loss of $347 million for the same period of 2024.   Revenues soared by 260% and income from operations surged by 598% as Venture Global’s…

U.S. LNG exporter Venture Global (NYSE: VG) booked a net income for the third quarter, compared to a loss a year earlier, as revenues and LNG exports soared amid rising liquefaction capacity at its plants.  Venture Global, the second-largest U.S. LNG exporter behind Cheniere, on Monday reported a net income attributable to common stockholders of $429 million for the third quarter, versus a loss of $347 million for the same period of 2024.   Revenues soared by 260% and income from operations surged by 598% as Venture Global’s…

Current conditions in the stock market have encouraged a significant increase in the number of individuals who actively trade in stock accounts. The major stock indices are at or near all-time highs following a long period of sustained rises, but, more importantly, financial news sites are full of stories of “mini meme stocks” that have shown returns in the hundreds of percentage points over short time periods. That leaves many people believing that they are missing out on an easy opportunity to make a lot of money. The evidence, however,…

Russian oil giant Lukoil has declared force majeure at the 400,000-barrels-per-day West Qurna-2 oilfield in Iraq after the U.S. sanctions on Russia’s top oil firms, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Monday.  Following the October 22 U.S. sanctions on Lukoil and Rosneft, Iraq has stopped all cash and crude payments to Lukoil, according to Reuters’ sources.  Last week, reports emerged that Iraq’s state oil marketing company SOMO had canceled three crude loadings from Lukoil this month after the U.S. sanctioned…