Singapore is a 277-square-mile thermodynamic miracle, or perhaps a financial one, depending on which ledger you prefer to read. I’ve spent enough time looking at industrial clusters to know that space is the ultimate friction point. In Singapore, that friction is becoming heat. Data from the IEA and regional market trackers reveals a country that has built an empire on "transformation"...taking raw inputs it doesn't own and turning them into high-value outputs the rest of the world craves.  It refined 1.7 million terajoules of oil products…

On Thursday, January 1st, the EU carbon border adjustment mechanism entered into effect with the goal of improving the competitiveness of European goods manufacturers against non-EU companies operating in laxer emissions reduction frameworks. China was the first to threaten retaliation. It won’t be the last. The carbon border adjustment mechanism, or CBAM for short, was devised to remedy the unintended effects of the world’s most stringent emission-reduction standards for the industrial sphere, namely, sky-high costs that make the end…

Several countries in Southeast Asia continue to rely heavily on fossil fuels, including coal, for their power supply. This is contributing heavily to an increase in emissions. However, multiple states in the region have now introduced green transition strategies aimed at decarbonising their economies by cutting emissions and gradually shifting reliance away from fossil fuels to renewable alternatives. Vietnam, the Philippines, and Indonesia are three of the Asian countries looking to ramp up their renewable energy capacities in the coming years…

The white hydrogen boom could be within sight based on recent finds in France, the United States, and other parts of the world. However, developers are still not sure of the costs involved with exploiting white hydrogen resources, as well as the technical challenges to accessing reserves, making the outlook uncertain. Unlike other low-carbon forms of hydrogen, such as blue and green hydrogen, white hydrogen is naturally occurring.  The geologic hydrogen, often referred to as natural or white hydrogen, is produced naturally when underground…

OPEC+ confirmed on Sunday that it will keep oil production steady through the first quarter of 2026, as eight key producers reaffirmed their commitment to market stability amid a steady global economic outlook and what they described as healthy oil market fundamentals. Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria, and Oman met virtually on January 4 to review global market conditions and outlook. The group reiterated its decision, first announced on November 2, 2025, to pause planned production increases in…

Over two days during the short 2025 summer beyond the Arctic Circle, a mining company moved a 113-year-old timber church building in its entirety nearly two miles away, in an engineering feat that made international headlines. The moving of the Kiruna Church from the Swedish town of the same name, created by the iron ore mining industry, wasn’t a solitary feat. The relocation of the church is part of a decades-long project by Sweden-based mining company LKAB, which is relocating the entire town of Kiruna to expand iron ore mining and tap…

For years, energy experts have predicted that natural gas will be the only fossil fuel that will see significant growth in its share in the global primary energy mix in the coming years, thanks to its role as a "bridge fuel" due to a lower emission profile compared with coal and oil as well as flexibility for grid stability, especially with increasing demand in Asia and as a backup for renewables. Natural gas is poised to reshape Africa’s future, offering transformative pathways for countries to earn export revenues and achieve domestic industrialization.…

From devastating wildfires to swirling cloud vortices, NASA’s fleet of Earth-observing satellites captured remarkable views of our planet throughout 2025. As Visual Capitalist's Nick Routley shows below, these images reveal both the beauty and fragility of Earth’s systems, documenting natural phenomena, climate events, and human impacts visible from space. All images featured in this article come from NASA’s Earth Observatory, captured by instruments aboard a variety of satellites in orbit around Earth. Together, they tell the…

Suriname’s government, in the capital Paramaribo, has been hungrily eyeing neighboring Guyana’s massive world-class oil boom since before the 2020 pandemic. Both impoverished South American nations of less than one million share the Guyana Suriname Basin. The offshore basin is delivering an oil boom that is exceeding all expectations, making Guyana, based on GDP per capita, one of the wealthiest nations in the world. Suriname, which is one of South America’s poorest countries and is experiencing a deep, long-running economic crisis,…

The geopolitical landscape of the Western Hemisphere shifted violently Saturday morning. In a nighttime operation that mirrors the 1989 capture of Manuel Noriega, U.S. special operations forces—reportedly including the Army’s Delta Force—struck Caracas and seized Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. President Donald Trump confirmed the capture on social media, describing it as a "large-scale strike" conducted alongside law enforcement.  Maduro is currently being flown to the United States…

U.S. liquefied natural gas exports set new records in 2025 as new capacity came online and existing terminals ran at high utilization, pushing annual shipments past levels previously thought years away. Preliminary data from LSEG show the United States exported 111 million metric tons of LNG last year, making it the first country to surpass the 100-million-ton threshold in a single year. That volume puts U.S. exports nearly 20 million tons ahead of Qatar and about 23 million tons above 2024 levels, reinforcing the country’s position as the…

Chinese-made electric buses are rapidly gaining ground across Southeast Asia as governments push to decarbonize public transport and Chinese manufacturers seek growth beyond a slowing home market, according to Nikkei Asia. In Jakarta, that shift is already visible. Transjakarta, the capital’s main bus operator, introduced electric buses from China’s BYD in 2022. It now runs 420 electric buses — nearly 10% of its fleet — including models from Skywell and Zhongtong, and plans to fully electrify its 10,000-bus fleet by 2030.…

Petrobras has brought the P-78 FPSO online at its Búzios 6 development, adding up to 180,000 barrels per day of oil capacity and reinforcing just how central the pre-salt has become to Brazil’s production story. The new unit is the seventh FPSO now operating at the Búzios field in the Santos Basin, lifting installed capacity at the field to roughly 1.15 million bpd. That matters because Búzios is no longer just a growth project. It is already one of the world’s largest producing oilfields, and it is still climbing.…

Petrobras has brought the P-78 FPSO online at its Búzios 6 development, adding up to 180,000 barrels per day of oil capacity and reinforcing just how central the pre-salt has become to Brazil’s production story. The new unit is the seventh FPSO now operating at the Búzios field in the Santos Basin, lifting installed capacity at the field to roughly 1.15 million bpd. That matters because Búzios is no longer just a growth project. It is already one of the world’s largest producing oilfields, and it is still climbing.…

The total number of active drilling rigs for oil and gas in the United States rose by 1 this week, according to new data that Baker Hughes published earlier this week, bringing the total rig count in the US  to 546 this week, down 43 from this same time last year. The number of active oil rigs rose by 3 in the reporting period for the second week in a row, according to the data. Oil rigs are now at 412, which is 70 below this same time last year. The number of gas rigs fell by 2 to 125, which is 22 more than this time last year. The miscellaneous…

Since Kyiv and its European backers panned a 28-point US proposal for a deal to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, warning that it was skewed in Moscow’s favor, Ukraine and the United States have been trying to hash out a revised blueprint known as the 20-point plan. Following a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Florida on December 28 -- bookended by phone calls with Russian President Vladimir Putin -- US President Donald Trump said that after nearly four years of full-scale war and inconclusive Russia-Ukraine talks…

Despite the public spat between two of OPEC’s top producers, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the wider OPEC+ group is expected to confirm at a Sunday meeting that it would hold output steady through the first quarter of 2026, delegates from the alliance told Reuters on Friday.  In recent days, OPEC’s top producer and de facto leader, Saudi Arabia, and the cartel’s large producer and influential member, the UAE, had a very public rift regarding their backing of opposing sides in Yemen.  Saudi forces intercepted…

Despite the public spat between two of OPEC’s top producers, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the wider OPEC+ group is expected to confirm at a Sunday meeting that it would hold output steady through the first quarter of 2026, delegates from the alliance told Reuters on Friday.  In recent days, OPEC’s top producer and de facto leader, Saudi Arabia, and the cartel’s large producer and influential member, the UAE, had a very public rift regarding their backing of opposing sides in Yemen.  Saudi forces intercepted…

Despite the public spat between two of OPEC’s top producers, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the wider OPEC+ group is expected to confirm at a Sunday meeting that it would hold output steady through the first quarter of 2026, delegates from the alliance told Reuters on Friday.  In recent days, OPEC’s top producer and de facto leader, Saudi Arabia, and the cartel’s large producer and influential member, the UAE, had a very public rift regarding their backing of opposing sides in Yemen.  Saudi forces intercepted…

Another setback in Russia–Ukraine peace talks and persistent tensions around Venezuela failed to jolt oil markets out of their New Year’s lull. 02 January, 2026 Another round of failed Russia-Ukraine peace talks and continued tensions around Venezuela have failed to wake oil prices from their New Year’s slumber, with ICE Brent staying put around the $60 per barrel mark on the first trading day of 2026. Whilst unlikely, the upcoming OPEC+ meeting on Sunday could provide some excitement as Saudi Arabia and the UAE continue to fight…