Oil prices stabilized on Wednesday after a run of gains, with markets digesting U.S. economic strength and ongoing supply uncertainty tied to Venezuelan crude exports and the continued war between Russia and Ukraine. At the time of writing, Brent crude was trading just 0.13% higher at $62.46, while West Texas Intermediate had risen 0.17% to $58.48. Both contracts are up over 4.5% in the last five trading days, as geopolitical risk has pushed prices higher. Robust U.S. economic data underpinned the latest rally, with Tuesday's data showing the U.S.…

The American Petroleum Institute (API) estimated that crude oil inventories in the United States saw a build of 2.4 million barrels in the week ending December 19. Crude oil inventories shrank by 9.3 million barrels in the week prior. Crude oil inventories in the United States are so far showing a net decrease of 6.7 million barrels for the year, according to Oilprice calculations of API data. Earlier this week, the Department of Energy (DoE) reported that crude oil inventories in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) have risen by 800,000 barrels…

U.S. gasoline prices are set to fall to the lowest level since 2020, thanks to increasing supplies, despite some ongoing refinery maintenance, GasBuddy has predicted. GasBuddy has predicted that U.S. motorists will pay an average of $2.79 per gallon on Christmas Day, down from $2.95 per gallon a year ago. That will mark the cheapest gas since prices averaged $2.26 per gallon in the Christmas of 2020. The Energy Information Administration has projected that rising global oil inventories will put downward pressure on oil prices, with a gallon of…

In mid-August, Chevron dispatched the first two crude oil cargoes from Venezuela since the start of the year. The company had secured a sanction waiver from the Biden administration, but President Trump canceled that—temporarily. Since then, Chevron has had to contend with political uncertainty and, lately, the prospect of a hot war between the U.S. and Venezuela. But it is not leaving. Chevron previously produced up to 240,000 barrels per day through its joint ventures with Venezuela’s PDVSA. Indeed, looking further back, American…

Iraq is at a crucial tipping point in its history. The past few months especially have seen a surge in activity from Western firms looking to re-enter the country’s oil and gas sector following a prolonged hiatus that had allowed the previous build-up of influence of China and Russia to accelerate and expand. Both sides – West and East – see Iraq as a crucial part of their global strategic plans, with no room for the other in this zero-sum game.  As exclusively revealed to OilPrice.com by a very high-ranking official…

The total number of active drilling rigs for oil and gas in the United States rose by 3 this week, according to new data that Baker Hughes published on Tuesday, bringing the total rig count in the US  to 545 this week, down 44 from this same time last year. The number of active oil rigs rose by 3 in the reporting period, according to the data, after US drillers saw an 8-rig decline in the week prior. Oil rigs are now at 409, which is 74 below this same time last year. The number of gas rigs stayed the same at 127, which is 25 more than this…

President Trump’s recent decision to rescind the Biden-era fuel efficiency standards marks a sharp shift in U.S. transportation policy. While the administration frames the move as a win for consumers and automakers, the implications extend well beyond the showroom floor. The rollback raises fresh questions about how automakers should plan long-term investments in an increasingly fragmented regulatory environment. What The Biden Standards Were Designed To Achieve The Biden administration’s rules, finalized in 2024, set aggressive targets:…

China’s independent refiners are accelerating purchases of Russia’s Far Eastern ESPO crude blend as Chinese refiners were issued new import quotas and the discount of Russian crude swelled to a record high, traders told Reuters on Tuesday. After missing out the crude purchasing windows for most of the fourth quarter, amid a lack of quotas allowing imports, the Chinese refiners, especially the so-called ‘teapots’ of the Shandong province, are back on the market hunting for bargain trades. The discount of the Russian ESPO…

China’s independent refiners are accelerating purchases of Russia’s Far Eastern ESPO crude blend as Chinese refiners were issued new import quotas and the discount of Russian crude swelled to a record high, traders told Reuters on Tuesday. After missing out the crude purchasing windows for most of the fourth quarter, amid a lack of quotas allowing imports, the Chinese refiners, especially the so-called ‘teapots’ of the Shandong province, are back on the market hunting for bargain trades. The discount of the Russian ESPO…

The Chinese yuan is making gains on the US dollar in Central Asia as a form of payment in commercial transactions. For example, the volume of trade in the Chinese yuan/Kazakh tenge (CNY/KZT) forex pair in Kazakhstan’s spot foreign exchange market grew by 102.1 percent to an equivalent of about $2 billion during the January-November period in 2025, compared with the same timeframe last year, according to Kazakhstan’s stock exchange platform, KASE. However, the US dollar (USD) remains the dominant foreign currency by far. For the USD/KZT…

More than half of the power plants in the PJM market running on fossil fuels have either deferred or canceled plans to retire as soaring electricity demand from AI data centers has operators use all available capacity to ensure the flexibility and reliability of the grids. PJM Interconnection is the biggest power grid in the United States, whose area covers 13 mid-Atlantic and Midwest states and the District of Columbia. According to a Reuters analysis of company filings in the PJM region, around 60% of the power plants running on oil, natural…

Copper prices hit a fresh high on Tuesday, rallying above $12,000 per ton on the London Metal Exchange, and on track to post their biggest annual gain since 2009, as supply disruptions and U.S. trade policies have created concerns about shortages. On Tuesday midday, copper prices hit as much as $12,044 per ton on the London Metal Exchange (LME), crossing the $12,000 a ton threshold for the first time ever. Prices have rallied and set several record-highs since October when concerns about supply shortages intensified. Copper prices have soared by…

Iraq on Tuesday announced a complete suspension of natural gas imports from Iran, a move the electricity ministry said immediately knocked between 4,000 and 4,500 megawatts off the national power grid. On its face, the decision sounds dramatic. In practical terms, it is but the final step in a process that was already well underway. Iraqi officials have spent the past year declaring victory over fuel imports, first halting shipments of gasoline, diesel, and kerosene while pitching a broader narrative of energy self-sufficiency. Gas was the remaining—and…

Iraq on Tuesday announced a complete suspension of natural gas imports from Iran, a move the electricity ministry said immediately knocked between 4,000 and 4,500 megawatts off the national power grid. On its face, the decision sounds dramatic. In practical terms, it is but the final step in a process that was already well underway. Iraqi officials have spent the past year declaring victory over fuel imports, first halting shipments of gasoline, diesel, and kerosene while pitching a broader narrative of energy self-sufficiency. Gas was the remaining—and…

Iraq on Tuesday announced a complete suspension of natural gas imports from Iran, a move the electricity ministry said immediately knocked between 4,000 and 4,500 megawatts off the national power grid. On its face, the decision sounds dramatic. In practical terms, it is but the final step in a process that was already well underway. Iraqi officials have spent the past year declaring victory over fuel imports, first halting shipments of gasoline, diesel, and kerosene while pitching a broader narrative of energy self-sufficiency. Gas was the remaining—and…

Sweden’s power giant Vattenfall announced on Tuesday it is applying for state aid for an investment in small modular reactors (SMRs) as part of a plan by industrial giants to bet on new nuclear power in the country.  Last month Sweden’s biggest industrial firms signed an agreement with Vattenfall to become shareholders in the power giant’s new company, Videberg Kraft AB, which plans to build SMRs in the country. One of Europe’s top electric utilities, Vattenfall, created Videberg Kraft AB in April this year as a separate…

Crude futures recovered some lost ground in the days before Christmas. Russia Muscles Into China’s LNG Market as Australia Loses Ground - Russia has become the second-largest LNG supplier to China, doubling its deliveries of super-chilled gas year-over-year in November to 1.6 million metric tonnes, according to Chinese customs data. - China’s weak demand for LNG has been one of the most consistent downtrends this year, with 2025 arrivals totalling only 66 million tonnes, down 16% from a year ago when imports tallied up to 78 million…

Oil markets are on edge as the U.S. escalates its seizures of sanctioned oil tankers off the coast of Venezuela, boarding a second tanker on Saturday before pursuing a third out into the Atlantic on Sunday. These actions, coming on the back of Trump’s announcement of a blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela, have ratcheted up tensions between the two countries.  At the same time, the U.S. is continuing to strike boats that it claims are smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, with more than 100 people…

At least half a dozen sanctioned tankers have loaded oil from Venezuela since December 11, when the U.S. escalated the pressure on Venezuelan oil exports, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, quoting data from Kpler.   Loadings of oil from Venezuelan ports appear to have been happening in recent weeks at a more or less typical pace despite the U.S. crackdown on vessels involved in illicit oil trade, according to Kpler’s data.    Earlier this month, the Trump Administration intensified pressure on Venezuela’s Nicolas…

Geopolitical developments have moved oil prices in both directions in recent days. Yet, the movements up or down were short-lived and smaller than they would have been if the market were tight or balanced.   But the feared oversupply is already here, manifested in the largest volume of oil in floating storage accumulated since the 2020 pandemic year, when the crash in demand led to a major stock surge both on land and on tankers at sea. The well-supplied market with Brent crude prices barely hanging on to the $60 per barrel handle has kept…