The World Bank needs profound reforms, including reversing a ban on upstream oil and gas financing, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement for the World Bank Development Committee and the IMF International Monetary and Financial Committee. The World Bank has made some steps in returning its focus on its core mission of reducing poverty and raising economic growth, Bessent said, but noted that “significantly more is needed.” “We continue to support the World Bank and African Development Bank goal to extend energy…

The waters outside the Strait of Hormuz have been so overcrowded with ship-to-ship transfers to keep oil flowing out of the Persian Gulf that the STS operations are expanding into India’s West Coast. A total of 82 cargoes, or about 680,000 barrels per day (bpd), were transferred onto larger ships in the Indian Gulf of Kutch in September, according to vessel-tracking data by Vortexa cited by The National. The Gulf of Kutch, which opens towards the Arabian Sea facing the Gulf of Oman, has become another point of STS for the Gulf oil producers.…

India’s record-setting annual additions of wind power capacity could double by the end of the decade, a senior executive at major wind turbine maker Suzlon Energy told Bloomberg on Thursday. Last year, India installed a record 6.3 gigawatts (GW) of wind power generation capacity. This year, the annual installations are set to top that record and reach 8 GW, and annual additions could then double to about 14 GW by 2030, Suzlon Energy’s executive vice chairman, Girish Tanti, told Bloomberg TV on the sidelines of the Bloomberg New Economy…

The U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) has announced a landmark $100-billion private investment to turn the former uranium enrichment site in Western Kentucky into the new Paducah American Energy Hub, marking one of the largest economic development projects in Kentucky's history. Led by U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, the initiative will bring together a private-sector coalition to build a massive artificial intelligence and high-performance computing (HPC) innovation campus powered by new energy infrastructure. The phased buildout is targeted…

Brent crude is once again over $106, Iran is intensifying attacks on tankers in Hormuz, and global inventories are draining, while OPEC just forecast stronger demand for next year. Six months ago, one well-timed TruthSocial post by President Trump would have calmed traders down. Now, this no longer works as fundamentals trump talk. Earlier in the war between the United States and Israel, and Iran, U.S. top officials could push prices lower with a statement about peace talks. There was even a brief ceasefire in June that pressured prices for weeks,…

The United States has used a 1950 authority to help boost fuel production at a small Texas refinery, Vice President JD Vance said on Tuesday, as the Trump Administration is running out of levers to lower record-high fuel prices. “I am pleased to announce that the Trump administration, working with the refinery at Delek, has used the Defense Production Act and we’re going to expand the refinery right here in Tyler, Texas,” Vance said at a political rally in Texas. “We want millions of gallons of commercial-grade and military-spec…

The American Petroleum Institute (API) estimated that crude oil inventories in the United States fell by a massive 11.12 million barrels in the week ending October 9. In the week prior, US crude oil inventories fell by 2.09 million barrels. Commercial crude oil inventories excluding the SPR have lost more than 51 million barrels over the last 26 weeks, but US crude inventories are at roughly the same level as they were at the beginning of the year, according to API data, kept in check in part thanks to draws from the SPR. For the week ending October…

The American Petroleum Institute (API) estimated that crude oil inventories in the United States fell by a massive 11.12 million barrels in the week ending October 9. In the week prior, US crude oil inventories fell by 2.09 million barrels. Commercial crude oil inventories excluding the SPR have lost more than 51 million barrels over the last 26 weeks, but US crude inventories are at roughly the same level as they were at the beginning of the year, according to API data, kept in check in part thanks to draws from the SPR. For the week ending October…

President Donald Trump has announced a massive new energy agreement with Taiwan, claiming the island will purchase between $70 billion and $80 billion worth of liquefied natural gas from Alaska over the next two decades, as Asian importers scramble to secure supplies beyond the increasingly dangerous Strait of Hormuz. In a Truth Social post on Wednesday, Trump said Taiwan had committed to purchasing 30% of the planned Alaska LNG project's output for 20 years, alongside a $4.4 billion equity investment. The president described the arrangement as…

Approval for more oil and gas drilling at the North Sea sites Jackdaw and Rosebank have been delayed by “government process” and lengthy bureaucratic wrangling, Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said.  Burnham told MPs that he would take a “pragmatic approach” on oil and gas drilling amid calls from energy bosses for drilling to go ahead at the two sites, which were blocked by Scottish courts on environmental grounds in 2024.  The energy secretary, Miatta Fahnbulleh, is expected to make a decision on whether to give…

Iran has quite obviously been surging its attacks on commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz in an attempt to wreak uncertainty and economic havoc for the Trump administration ahead of the November midterm elections, undermining a recent recovery in Persian Gulf oil shipments. The attacks are now coming so frequently it is difficult to track. One source tallies of recent days, "Twelve vessels were attacked between October 5 and 11, including six on Sunday alone, and on Tuesday a tanker and a container ship were struck by unknown projectiles,…

Back in 1991, the formation of the Commonwealth of Independent States placed the final nail in the Soviet Union’s coffin. Since then, the CIS itself has proven mostly moribund, falling far short of fulfilling the aims outlined in its 1993 charter. The results of the recent CIS summit in Turkmenistan, marking the 35th anniversary of its formation, offered more of the same, featuring lots of empty rhetoric about the organization’s relevance and happy talk about its future. Russian leader Vladimir Putin was perhaps the CIS’ biggest…

Yemen's Houthis said Wednesday they will resume attacks on Saudi airports and oil facilities "in the coming days," after Saudi authorities reported a limited fire at Aramco's office complex in Dhahran during a Houthi missile attack Tuesday night. The Houthis claimed strikes on Aramco facilities in Dhahran, an Aramco refinery in Riyadh and King Khalid International Airport. The Houthis called the sites legitimate targets and urged international shipping companies, civilians and workers to evacuate Saudi airports and oil facilities.  Maj. Gen.…

Yemen's Houthis said Wednesday they will resume attacks on Saudi airports and oil facilities "in the coming days," after Saudi authorities reported a limited fire at Aramco's office complex in Dhahran during a Houthi missile attack Tuesday night. The Houthis claimed strikes on Aramco facilities in Dhahran, an Aramco refinery in Riyadh and King Khalid International Airport. The Houthis called the sites legitimate targets and urged international shipping companies, civilians and workers to evacuate Saudi airports and oil facilities.  Maj. Gen.…

Supervisors at BHP’s Escondida, the world’s largest copper mine, said they would strike at 8 a.m. local time Wednesday after government-led mediation failed to produce a contract. The union represents about 1,020 workers at a mine that supplies roughly a quarter of Chile’s copper, and the stoppage follows a walkout at Antofagasta’s Centinela that began Oct. 7. Both land as governments across the Andes ask miners for far more copper, not less. Demand will not wait S&P Global projects that copper demand will climb from…

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on Wednesday that the diesel agreement with the United States is linked to higher Russian refining and production and means additional taxes for the budget. He spoke to journalists at Russian Energy Week in Moscow, calling the agreement "a positive signal for our economy", and saying it brings spending on the social sphere and opportunities for investment. Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said on Tuesday that Russia has no export duties on diesel and that the exports will be reflected in…

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on Wednesday that the diesel agreement with the United States is linked to higher Russian refining and production and means additional taxes for the budget. He spoke to journalists at Russian Energy Week in Moscow, calling the agreement "a positive signal for our economy", and saying it brings spending on the social sphere and opportunities for investment. Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said on Tuesday that Russia has no export duties on diesel and that the exports will be reflected in…

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on Wednesday that the diesel agreement with the United States is linked to higher Russian refining and production and means additional taxes for the budget. He spoke to journalists at Russian Energy Week in Moscow, calling the agreement "a positive signal for our economy", and saying it brings spending on the social sphere and opportunities for investment. Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said on Tuesday that Russia has no export duties on diesel and that the exports will be reflected in…

When Big Tech signed President Trump's Ratepayer Protection Pledge in March, promising to pay for all the new grid infrastructure upgrades required to service their data centers, we cautioned that "voluntary pledges from trillion-dollar tech giants have a habit of evolving." Seven months later, the hyperscalers are pushing back on how much of the grid's bill is theirs to pay. The past week brought a Democratic Senate report and a North Carolina utility settlement, and FERC is expected to rule on whether new data centers must bring their own power.…

China’s imports of coal fell in September by 6% from a year earlier, customs data showed on Wednesday, as Chinese inventories remain robust, supply from key exporter Indonesia remains restricted, and import prices jump. Last month, China imported 43.37 million tons of all types of coal, up by 3% compared to August but still 5.7% below a year earlier, preliminary data from the General Administration of Customs (GACC) showed. The average import price for China’s coal jumped in September to its highest since 2024, analysts at Mysteel Global…