The world’s largest oilfield services company is spending $3.4 billion to expand into the infrastructure behind the AI power boom. SLB said Monday it will acquire German cooling equipment maker Kelvion, more than doubling the revenue opportunity per gigawatt of delivering capacity, according to the company.  SLB will pay approximately $3.4 billion in cash to acquire Kelvion and assume another $700 million of debt. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2027, subject to regulatory approvals. SLB expects $120 million…

Two weeks ago, I wrote about how conflict and climate change are combining to impede navigation across the globe. That same combination is also pushing food supply down and prices up worldwide. Climate change is no longer coming; it's here, and we're mixing it with our human folly in war in ways that make matters worse. A single headline can only tell a fragment of the story. For example, "Britain faces food shortages within months, warn farmers," one article blares. Why? The writer explains: "The worst harvest since 1984 and a spike in livestock…

European benchmark natural gas prices jumped by 5% in early morning trade on Monday as the re-escalation of hostilities between the United States and Iran intensified concerns about LNG supply from the Middle East. The benchmark price at the Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TTF) soared by 5% in morning trade in Amsterdam, and the price topped 70 euros, or $81.20, per megawatt-hour (MWh), after the U.S. and Iran resumed trading strikes for the first time in more than a month. This was the highest price the front-month benchmark futures have seen in…

Six months after US and Israeli air strikes against Iran launched a conflict that has shaken energy markets and disrupted global shipping, there is still no clear end to the confrontation. While Iran's military capabilities have suffered major damage, it retains leverage in the Strait of Hormuz. Experts interviewed by RFE/RL from across Washington's policy spectrum see the next phase being shaped by four questions: how long Iran can withstand economic pressure, can diplomacy turn military gains into a durable settlement, what happens to Hormuz,…

Supply issues have been tightening the Chinese coking coal market for months, pushing the price of the key steelmaking raw material a record 46% in August alone, the biggest surge on record. Coking coal futures on China’s Dalian exchange were rising by 6% on Monday afternoon local time amid persistent supply issues following the mining disaster in May and increased safety checks on other Chinese mines. But more importantly, the futures were on track to post a record-setting 46% monthly surge, the biggest on record since the Dalian coking…

Supply issues have been tightening the Chinese coking coal market for months, pushing the price of the key steelmaking raw material a record 46% in August alone, the biggest surge on record. Coking coal futures on China’s Dalian exchange were rising by 6% on Monday afternoon local time amid persistent supply issues following the mining disaster in May and increased safety checks on other Chinese mines. But more importantly, the futures were on track to post a record-setting 46% monthly surge, the biggest on record since the Dalian coking…

There is always a winner in any major global oil crisis. In 1973/74, it was Saudi Arabia and its OPEC brothers who shifted the balance of power in the market away from the previous arrangement dominated by the West’s ‘Seven Sisters’ to the oil producers of the Middle East. After the 2014-2016 Oil Price War, it was the U.S. whose earlier nascent shale oil sector resisted the threat to its very existence from Saudi Arabia and OPEC, reorganising into a meaner, leaner, lower-cost oil production machine. The U.S. was the winner again…

Iran on Monday dismissed as “laughable” a Truth Social AI-generated post by U.S. President Donald Trump that the key Iranian oil export hub of Kharg Island is “being blown to smithereens”, as tensions in the Middle East boiled up again with U.S. attacks and Iranian claims of retaliatory strikes. President Trump late on Sunday posted an AI-generated video on his Truth Social platform, with the caption “Kharg Island being blown to smithereens!!! President DJT”. In response to the post, Iran on Monday said, via…

Chancellor John Healey has been presented with a plan to tax oil firms and banks further as bosses in the sectors have posted huge profits, according to reports.  Healey may look to tax businesses at this year’s Budget in order to rebuild a partly-eroded £22.7bn fiscal buffer, and fill spending pledges for defence and the cost of living.  It was reported in Bloomberg that Treasury officials believe windfall taxes on banks and oil companies could be “low hanging fruit” for increasing government receipts.  The…

Refiners are set to reap stronger profits on the global diesel shortage, Goldman Sachs has said, revising its earlier profit forecast to double the total profits that refining companies would make from the squeeze. “Rising strikes on refineries in the Middle East and Russia have further constrained already-stretched global refining capacity, pushing refined-products margins to new highs,” the bank’s analysts wrote in a note, as quoted by Bloomberg. “Diesel remains at the epicenter of the rally,” they added Global diesel…

The United States will use Venezuelan crude to refill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, President Donald Trump said on Sunday on social media. Describing the move as a “Gift from Venezuela to the People of the United States,” President Trump said the “topping out” will begin soon, as quoted by Reuters. The Strategic Petroleum Reserve has been drawn close to minimum operational levels amid a surge in U.S. crude oil exports in response to the crisis in the Middle East. As of August 21, per Reuters, the SPR held 290 million…

Oil prices climbed in early Asian trade on Monday after the U.S. struck Iran for the first time in over a month, with Iran then retaliating against U.S. bases in Jordan. At the time of writing, WTI front-month futures were trading at $85.46 per barrel, up 2.47%, while Brent front-month futures had climbed 2.71% to $90.49 per barrel. The latest escalation started on Sunday when U.S. forces struck two Iranian rocket launchers on Larak Island, which sits inside the Strait of Hormuz. According to a U.S. Central Command spokesperson, the attack came…

Back in October 2025, the U.S. Army unveiled the Janus Program to supply portable nuclear microreactors to military bases by 2028. Whereas these reactors are much smaller than conventional nuclear plants, they typically generate 1-20 megawatts of electricity per reactor, significantly more than what the biggest portable generators can manage. That makes them ideal for the military, considering that major military bases consume as much power as a small city. The military logic is that in a conflict, transporting fossil fuels to remote front lines…

U.S. shale innovation is not limited to drilling techniques and engineering breakthroughs. Producers are testing and already getting more oil out of existing wells in the shale formations with the use of advanced chemicals. The mixture of cocktails of various chemicals, the so-called surfactants, helps release oil from the tight and shale formations. And shale drillers, including supermajors and independent producers, are increasingly perfecting the right cocktail mix to release more oil from the rocks. These advanced chemical mixtures, together…

One day after veteran commodities strategist Jeff Currie told investors to "get long and buckle up" for the next leg of the commodities rally, UBS strategist Sagar Khandelwal issued a similarly bullish call, urging clients to "position for a commodity upcycle." Khandelwal said electrification, surging power demand, artificial-intelligence infrastructure spending, persistent supply constraints, and years of underinvestment are converging to create a perfect storm for a sustained upcycle in hard assets. Commodities can generate returns…

The expansion of data centers to power the artificial intelligence boom is causing a natural gas revival in the United States. Planned gas-fired power capacity tied to data centers nearly doubled in the first half of 2026 alone, as Big Tech players turn to massive new power plants to support the insatiable demand of hyperscale data center campuses. Amazon is currently building a gas-fired power plant in Texas that is set to become the single-biggest source of power-related emissions in the entire United States if it’s developed according…

Turkey and Saudi Arabia have announced ambitious plans to cooperate on renewable energy, as both countries aim to deploy vast amounts of clean power. Saudi Arabia has already invested heavily in Turkey’s solar power sector and aims to deepen its energy partnership with Turkey. Meanwhile, Turkey is also continuing to expand its oil and gas production and discussing the potential for new energy routes linking the Middle East and Europe. Turkey and Saudi Arabia have signed an agreement to add a further 3 GW of renewable energy capacity in Turkey,…

The war between the United States, Israel, and Iran has caused the oil and gas import bill of the world to swell by as much as $330 billion over the six months between March and August. That’s despite a smaller-than-feared oil price climb and equally smaller-than-feared rise in gas prices. However, the war is not over yet. The bill could swell further. The data comes from the Finland-based climate think tank Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, and it refers to money paid to import oil, fuels, and LNG versus what analysts had forecast…

For years, the economic case for solar came with an awkward qualification. Yes, it had no fuel bill. Yes, its operating costs were low. And yes, over the life of a project it could already produce cheaper electricity than a new coal or gas plant. But first, someone had to pay for it. Solar concentrated most of its lifetime costs at the beginning. Fossil power appeared to ask for less capital upfront and spread the rest of the bill across decades of coal or gas purchases. In rich countries with deep capital markets, that distinction could be managed.…

After a delayed start under the previous government, Mexico is now well on its way to undergoing a green transition. President Claudia Sheinbaum has launched an energy reform that opens Mexico’s energy sector to greater private investment and focuses on expanding the country’s renewable energy sector. Meanwhile, the approval of several solar and wind projects demonstrates the government’s commitment to the accelerated deployment of clean energy. In February, Sheinbaum launched Mexico’s strategic energy transition roadmap,…