More than a year has passed since Armenia and Azerbaijan signed the Washington agreement under the direct mediation of President Trump. Nevertheless, the TRIPP project, an approximately 40-kilometer route that would constitute the shortest segment of the Middle Corridor, has yet to be implemented, leaving the broader project incomplete. Notably, the principal obstacles to its implementation originate neither in Armenia nor Azerbaijan but are predominantly external factors that continue to impede the project’s realization. BACKGROUND: …

Argentina has moved its fight over Falklands oil from threats to the courtroom, asking an international maritime tribunal to halt development of Sea Lion, the islands’ first commercial oil project. The government filed for provisional measures with the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea on Tuesday, seeking to stop British-authorized hydrocarbon activity in the Northern Falklands Basin. The specific project in question is Sea Lion, a 315-million-barrel development operated by Navitas Petroleum with Rockhopper Exploration. The companies…

Argentina has moved its fight over Falklands oil from threats to the courtroom, asking an international maritime tribunal to halt development of Sea Lion, the islands’ first commercial oil project. The government filed for provisional measures with the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea on Tuesday, seeking to stop British-authorized hydrocarbon activity in the Northern Falklands Basin. The specific project in question is Sea Lion, a 315-million-barrel development operated by Navitas Petroleum with Rockhopper Exploration. The companies…

Argentina has moved its fight over Falklands oil from threats to the courtroom, asking an international maritime tribunal to halt development of Sea Lion, the islands’ first commercial oil project. The government filed for provisional measures with the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea on Tuesday, seeking to stop British-authorized hydrocarbon activity in the Northern Falklands Basin. The specific project in question is Sea Lion, a 315-million-barrel development operated by Navitas Petroleum with Rockhopper Exploration. The companies…

Qatar’s highly sensitive geographical positioning -- between a western land border with Saudi Arabia and a northeastern maritime border with Iran -- has necessitated it treading a delicate diplomatic path between regional superpowers and their global superpower backers since it gained independence from being a British protectorate in 1971. For much of the period from the 1945 landmark relationship foundation deal between Riyadh and Washington was signed, as fully analysed in my latest book on the new global oil market order, Sunni Muslim…

Nigeria’s Dangote refinery has gone from losing money to posting a $4.73 billion profit in less than a year, just as it asks investors for $1.6 billion in what would be Africa’s largest IPO. Dangote Petroleum Refinery reported net profit of $4.73 billion for the first nine months of 2026, reversing a $117.2 million loss during the same period last year. Revenue more than doubled to $22.48 billion from $9.19 billion. EBITDA jumped to $5.52 billion from $627.6 million as the refinery processed more crude and captured higher refining margins.…

There was a time when diesel fuel was usually cheaper than gasoline in the United States. That relationship began to change about 20 years ago, and since then diesel has generally traded at a premium. Today, that premium is not just persistent but unusually large, which raises an obvious question: how did we get from gasoline typically costing more than diesel to diesel costing substantially more than gasoline? The answer has two parts. The first is structural and goes back to the mid-2000s, when changes in fuel specifications, taxes, refining…

India may need to revise up its planned new coal-fired capacity installations through 2035 amid soaring electricity demand that needs grid stability and flexibility, a senior Indian official said on Tuesday. Last year, India planned to raise its coal-fired power capacity by a total of 97 gigawatts (GW) until 2035, and have 307 GW of coal capacity installed. At present, the world’s second-largest coal consumer has 231 GW of installed coal-fired power capacity. However, the surge in power demand over the past year has shown that India may need…

Houthi attacks threaten Saudi oil infrastructure and Gulf shipping as Brent hovers near $105 per barrel. Trump’s Fuel-Price Problem Is Becoming a Political One - The Trump administration’s Russia diesel deal has failed to bring about substantial change in US fuel prices, triggering a 3-4% decline in heating oil futures, raising the risks of a midterm election debacle for the White House.  - Whilst neither diesel nor heating oil have surpassed the levels seen in October 2022 (the month before President Biden’s mid-term elections)…

Several Japanese oil tankers are returning to the Middle East to pick up crude cargoes for Japan’s refineries, but none of these are moving into the Persian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz. Instead, a rising number of Japan-owned or Japan-bound tankers – most of which have steered clear of the Middle East since the Iran war began – are returning to waters in the Gulf of Oman to participate in ship-to-ship (STS) transfers offshore Oman or Fujairah, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, quoting shipbrokers and tanker-tracking data. For…

Several Japanese oil tankers are returning to the Middle East to pick up crude cargoes for Japan’s refineries, but none of these are moving into the Persian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz. Instead, a rising number of Japan-owned or Japan-bound tankers – most of which have steered clear of the Middle East since the Iran war began – are returning to waters in the Gulf of Oman to participate in ship-to-ship (STS) transfers offshore Oman or Fujairah, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, quoting shipbrokers and tanker-tracking data. For…

US President Donald Trump, in the face of sharp criticism from officials in Ukraine, Europe, and even his Republican party, defended his decision to allow Russian diesel exports and insisted an energy cease-fire between Kyiv and Moscow is in place despite a lack of confirmation from either side. Speaking to reporters on the White House lawn on October 12, Trump maintained that the truce was in place even as Ukrainian officials reported further Russian strikes. Asked whether the two sides had agreed to the cease-fire, Trump told reporters: “They…

Pakistan will have to pay in excess of $1 billion to secure LNG supply for the winter months, as spot prices soar amid massive disruptions to Qatari term supply. The price tag will be fueled by the spot LNG prices in Asia surging to three-year highs and the plans of the Pakistani government to import 10 LNG cargoes from the spot market, at double the price at which LNG is being imported from Qatar, local daily Tribune reported on Tuesday. Amid disrupted supplies from Qatar, Pakistan will have to purchase these additional 10 cargoes on the spot…

Back in July, the U.S. slapped an extra 50% duty on a wide range of Canadian exports, including items like dairy, alcohol and cement, with the Trump administration citing alleged Canadian trade discrimination against various U.S. goods. In response, Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government implemented dollar-for-dollar counter-tariffs targeting U.S. goods such as steel, aluminum, appliances and electronics as the tit-for-tat tariffs and trade war between the two nations escalated. Despite Trump’s frequent bluster, Canada remains the…

The Trump Administration is restricting access to a federal rural energy program for farmers in another move against renewable energy. But the major change to the Department of Agriculture’s Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) that eliminates upfront funding would make energy efficiency projects and cheaper energy for farmers inaccessible to many of them, analysts say. The USDA’s new rules, unveiled at the end of September and effective October 16, aim to eliminate taxpayer funding for “unreliable energy sources”, protect…

Liquefied natural gas flows from the Persian Gulf are still over 75% lower than they were before February 28th. Yet heating demand is rising ahead of winter. In Europe, the November natural gas benchmark contract is trading at over 81 euros per MWh. In Asia, the spot market LNG price topped prices for Europe, drawing cargoes eastward. Meanwhile, coal is 80% cheaper than LNG. Coal has been the target of much climate-related regulation on the basis that it emits the most carbon dioxide plus pollutant gases and particulate matter. Yet coal has remained…

A new breakthrough in high-temperature heat pumps could provide a critical pathway toward relieving global reliance on fossil fuels in industrial contexts. A team of scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE (Fraunhofer ISE) in Germany tested heat pumps at 320 degrees Fahrenheit and proved that they can produce hot water and steam, showing promise for replacing coal in hard-to-abate industrial sectors. “Data collected from the test rig could allow manufacturers to design heat pumps and heat exchangers for high temperatures,…

New data released by the China Passenger Car Association earlier on Monday show that China's peak car-buying season hit the brakes, with September passenger-vehicle retail sales plunging 28% from a year earlier as manufacturers increasingly relied on overseas buyers to cushion soft domestic demand. The CPCA said in the report that retail sales fell to 1.62 million vehicles, marking a 12th consecutive monthly decline from a year earlier. Sales rose 5% from August. The report showed that electric cars and plug-in hybrids accounted for a whopping…

Gold is struggling to regain its footing after retreating from September highs above $4,400 an ounce, as a stronger U.S. dollar, surging Treasury yields and expectations of further Federal Reserve tightening weigh on the precious metal. But while speculative investors have been reducing their exposure, central banks and gold-backed exchange-traded funds continue accumulating bullion, raising an increasingly important question: Is gold entering a prolonged correction, or is the recent selloff creating another buying opportunity? Gold traded around…

A White House executive order designed to secure the US power grid from Chinese-made equipment is more likely to disrupt battery storage supply chains than the transformers and switchgear it aims to target, according to new Rystad Energy analysis. Executive Order 14421, signed by President Donald Trump on 26 August 2026, names substation transformers, grid-connected inverters, battery energy storage systems, high-voltage circuit breakers and generation turbines as covered equipment. Rystad Energy finds that US reliance on Chinese transformers and…