In late 2025, during his visit to Kyrgyzstan, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin declared Russia’s readiness to build a small modular nuclear power reactor (SMR) in Kyrgyzstan, thereby signaling Moscow’s intention to move beyond traditional trade relations toward projects in long-term strategic infrastructure. Russia’s proposal may be justified by the need to address Kyrgyzstan’s persistent problem of frequent energy shortages, caused by rising consumption, aging energy infrastructure, and overreliance on hydropower…

Nearly fifty seemingly separate companies have been involved in coordinating to mask the origin of Russian oil, moving crude worth at least $90 billion, an investigation of the Financial Times has found.  FT uncovered the network due to an IT blunder—the 48 identified entities all share a single private email server.  The oil smuggling network includes firms and persons linked to Russia’s top oil producer, state-controlled Rosneft, and these have been in coordination to mask the origin of Russian crude, especially of Rosneft. …

Nearly fifty seemingly separate companies have been involved in coordinating to mask the origin of Russian oil, moving crude worth at least $90 billion, an investigation of the Financial Times has found.  FT uncovered the network due to an IT blunder—the 48 identified entities all share a single private email server.  The oil smuggling network includes firms and persons linked to Russia’s top oil producer, state-controlled Rosneft, and these have been in coordination to mask the origin of Russian crude, especially of Rosneft. …

Nearly fifty seemingly separate companies have been involved in coordinating to mask the origin of Russian oil, moving crude worth at least $90 billion, an investigation of the Financial Times has found.  FT uncovered the network due to an IT blunder—the 48 identified entities all share a single private email server.  The oil smuggling network includes firms and persons linked to Russia’s top oil producer, state-controlled Rosneft, and these have been in coordination to mask the origin of Russian crude, especially of Rosneft. …

Nearly fifty seemingly separate companies have been involved in coordinating to mask the origin of Russian oil, moving crude worth at least $90 billion, an investigation of the Financial Times has found.  FT uncovered the network due to an IT blunder—the 48 identified entities all share a single private email server.  The oil smuggling network includes firms and persons linked to Russia’s top oil producer, state-controlled Rosneft, and these have been in coordination to mask the origin of Russian crude, especially of Rosneft. …

Nearly fifty seemingly separate companies have been involved in coordinating to mask the origin of Russian oil, moving crude worth at least $90 billion, an investigation of the Financial Times has found.  FT uncovered the network due to an IT blunder—the 48 identified entities all share a single private email server.  The oil smuggling network includes firms and persons linked to Russia’s top oil producer, state-controlled Rosneft, and these have been in coordination to mask the origin of Russian crude, especially of Rosneft. …

20 de febrero de 2026.- La compañía petrolera Repsol, que ya trabaja de manera conjunta con la estatal Petróleos de Venezuela (Pdvsa) y las autoridades nacionales, aspira a aumentar la producción de crudo en más de un 50% a corto plazo (un año) y triplicarla en un periodo de tres años, según explicó...

The U.S. Supreme Court just kneecapped one of the most aggressive trade levers Washington has pulled in decades, and energy markets are now left sorting out what sticks and what doesn’t. In a 6–3 ruling, the Court struck down most of President Trump’s across-the-board tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. The majority opinion was this: the Constitution does not hand taxing authority to the executive branch. That wipes out the 10%-plus blanket tariffs rolled out since April 2025 and undercuts the…

The ratcheting up of tensions between the United States and Iran could push an already red-hot supertanker market even higher with rates soaring to the highest level since 2019, analysts say.  The daily rate for hiring a supertanker on the key Middle East-to-China route has surged threefold since the beginning of the year, to over $150,000.   That’s the highest since 2020, per data from the Baltic Exchange cited by Bloomberg.  The rally in freight rates for the very large crude carriers (VLCC) capable of carrying around…

The ratcheting up of tensions between the United States and Iran could push an already red-hot supertanker market even higher with rates soaring to the highest level since 2019, analysts say.  The daily rate for hiring a supertanker on the key Middle East-to-China route has surged threefold since the beginning of the year, to over $150,000.   That’s the highest since 2020, per data from the Baltic Exchange cited by Bloomberg.  The rally in freight rates for the very large crude carriers (VLCC) capable of carrying around…

El politólogo español Juan Carlos Monedero afirmó que Donald Trump ha mantenido la distancia con María Corina Machado, señalando que el mandatario estadounidense considera que la dirigente opositora le ha hecho perder recursos.

Las autoridades de Trinidad y Tobago, estarían muy interesadas en retomar proyectos gasíferos con Venezuela, a pesar que hasta hace menos de dos meses la primera ministra de esa isla, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, aseguró que esa nación no necesitaba en lo absoluto del combustible venezolano pues el...

Desde este jueves 19 de febrero de 2026, inició el pago del bono «Contra la Guerra Económica», correspondiente al mes en curso, a través del Sistema Patria. Asimismo, el Canal Patria Digital informó en sus

After US-Iran nuclear talks concluded in Geneva under heavy American pressure on Tehran to curb its nuclear activities, leading Washington experts say the crisis now stands at a tipping point, with the chances of peace or war at "50-50." Negotiations ended on February 18 with no breakthrough. The White House said the sides remain "very far apart" despite what it described as limited progress. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that Iran is expected to return with more details "in the next couple of weeks." Ahead of the Geneva meeting,…

En horas de la tarde de este jueves, usuarios de las redes sociales reportaron la rotura de una tubería de agua en la Avenida Intercomunal Valle-Coche, específicamente en las adyacencias de la estación del Metro de Coche. Señalaron que la avería está exactamente en el puente de la c...

Politics, Geopolitics & Conflict The next strategic territory emerging as a point of friction on the world stage is the Chagos Islands. The UK is preparing to transfer sovereignty of the islands to Mauritius, while still preserving long-term U.S.-UK control over the military base on Diego Garcia. The structure would give legal sovereignty to Mauritius, with Diego Garcia leased back for continued military use. Diego Garcia is a core logistics and strike hub for U.S. operations stretching from the Middle East to the Indo-Pacific. The base hosts…

Iran is burying parts of its nuclear infrastructure because it is preparing for a U.S. strike, not an invasion. The U.S. has the ability to hit fixed targets inside Iran instantly, without moving ground forces, so the only plausible military scenario in view is a limited strike. Negotiations have continued through intermediaries. This week, Tehran said it was preparing a written proposal outlining terms for de-escalation. Washington, surprisingly, has kept public messaging tight (no cartoons on X). Talks are ongoing, but military options remain…

Typically, one of the first things I do when I am thinking of writing about something is to search the database and see what I might have said about that stock, sector, or whatever in the past. That can be an interesting exercise at times, and it was this week. I was surprised to see that the last time I had talked about tanker stocks here was back in February of 2021. That is surprising because they are something that I follow consistently. The fortunes of the tanker companies are, of course, linked to crude prices, but they can also sometimes…

Light crude oil futures are extending their gains this week, up 5.70% and threatening to break out to the upside as U.S.-Iran tensions continue to escalate. The market has rallied more than 20% from its December lows, and the big question now is how much further it can go given that the world remains well-supplied with oil. Wednesday's 4% Jump Was Just the Beginning Wednesday's 4% single-session surge set the tone for the week. It was a direct reaction to the military buildup in the Middle East and the growing fear that the U.S. is preparing to…

A jump in China’s crude oil imports from Russia is more than compensating the withdrawal of the Indian refiners from spot Russian purchases, according to tanker-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg.  So far in February, deliveries of Russia-origin cargoes at Chinese ports have averaged 2.09 million barrels per day (bpd), up from an average of 1.72 million bpd in the full month of January and 1.39 million for December, the data showed.   For Russia, the hike in Chinese purchases of its crude has more than offset the loss of a…