Venezuela’s oil exports rose to 1.23 million barrels per day (bpd) in April, the highest level since 2018, as shipments to the United States, India, and Europe accelerated. Exports climbed 14% from March levels, according to shipping data and PDVSA documents, with 66 cargoes leaving Venezuelan ports during the month. That compares with 61 vessels in March carrying about 1.08 million bpd. Since the January capture of Nicolas Maduro and the installation of an interim government, Washington has eased sanctions and taken control of Venezuelan…

The total number of active drilling rigs for oil and gas in the United States rose this week, according to new data that Baker Hughes published on Friday, bringing the total rig count in the US to 547,  down 37 from this same time last year. The number of active oil rigs specifically rose by 1 to 408 during the latest reporting period, according to the data. This is 64 below this same time last year. The number of gas rigs rose by 1 after rising by 4 in the week prior. Gas rigs now sit at 130, which is 22 more than this time last year. The…

Chevron beat first-quarter expectations as higher oil prices lifted upstream earnings, offsetting a sharp swing to losses in refining. Adjusted earnings came in at $1.41 per share, well above expectations. Upstream delivered $3.9 billion, up 4% year-on-year, as crude prices surged during the quarter. Brent spent much of the period moving higher on disruptions tied to the Iran conflict and the effective shutdown of flows through the Strait of Hormuz. For Chevron, that price move did the heavy lifting for the quarter. Chevron’s production footprint…

Oil prices head for a weekly close below $110 after wild swings, as Iran’s negotiation proposal cools markets while uncertainty over Trump’s war-powers deadline keeps traders on edge. Friday, May 01, 2026 Oil prices are set to close this week below $110 per barrel, marking a week of extreme volatility as Brent’s June contract hit $126 per barrel on Thursday. Iran’s latest proposal for negotiations, sent to the Trump administration via Pakistani mediators, has been the main cause for bearishness. The US President is only…

Defying some analysts’ expectations, Kazakhstan has opted not to follow the United Arab Emirates in abandoning OPEC’s oil production quotas. The Kazakh Energy Ministry announced April 29 that “the issue of changing the format of the country’s participation in the alliance is not on the agenda.” Kazakhstan cooperates with OPEC under the OPEC+ platform, which coordinates production between full OPEC members and other oil-producing states with the aim of optimizing energy supplies and prices. The UAE announced…

Russia's Black Sea port of Tuapse was targeted and hit by a new Ukrainian drone strike early on Friday, in the fourth attack on the port in just one week as Ukraine looks to limit Russia's oil exports and revenues amid soaring crude prices. Since international crude oil prices surged following the war in the Middle East, Russia has boosted its oil revenues as not only prices have jumped, but Russian oil was made desirable in India again, thanks to a U.S. waiver for sales on Russia's crude already loaded on tankers. Over the past week, Ukrainian…

Russia's Black Sea port of Tuapse was targeted and hit by a new Ukrainian drone strike early on Friday, in the fourth attack on the port in just one week as Ukraine looks to limit Russia's oil exports and revenues amid soaring crude prices. Since international crude oil prices surged following the war in the Middle East, Russia has boosted its oil revenues as not only prices have jumped, but Russian oil was made desirable in India again, thanks to a U.S. waiver for sales on Russia's crude already loaded on tankers. Over the past week, Ukrainian…

When a major oil shock hits, most Americans notice it first at the pump. That’s exactly what’s happening now. Since the February 28 attack on Iran and the subsequent disruption of tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, U.S. gasoline and diesel prices have moved sharply higher. Grocery prices are beginning to follow, as transportation costs ripple through the system. The March inflation report came in much hotter than expected.  For many Americans, that’s where the story seems to end. We are experiencing higher prices,…

Politics, Geopolitics & Conflict The legal floor under the Iran war is starting to give way. Today marks 60 days since the White House notified Congress that U.S. forces were engaged in hostilities against Iran. Under the War Powers Resolution, that is the point at which the president either gets congressional authorization or it’s over. The administration is now arguing that the ceasefire with Iran effectively paused the clock. Trump is now being pressured to either seek authorization or file the required 30-day withdrawal notice. By…

June WTI crude oil futures surged this week, with the contract trading at $105.88 Thursday night, up $11.48 or 12.16%. The weekly high is $110.93, while the low is $94.59. With Friday still ahead, the market has not closed the week yet, but the move has already been one of the strongest rallies in months. The buying was not random. Traders reacted to a series of major events between April 26 and April 30 that all pointed toward tighter supply. The biggest drivers were the U.S.-Iran standoff, stalled peace talks, the Strait of Hormuz disruption,…

Oil prices could spike to $140 per barrel as the U.S. is keeping its blockade outside the Strait of Hormuz, Iran says and signals it won’t open the chokepoint to free traffic and won’t return to negotiations unless the American blockade is lifted. The U.S. Administration is getting “junk advice” from people like [Treasury Secretary] Bessent “who also push the blockade theory and cranked oil up to $120+. Next stop:140,” Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the Speaker of Iran’s Parliament, says. He also teased U.S.…

Venezuela has signed agreements with two U.S. energy firms to operate in the country as a growing number of international oil and gas companies are vying to return to the world's biggest crude resource holder. The Venezuelan government of interim President Delcy Rodríguez has just signed agreements with U.S. firms Hunt Overseas Oil Company and Crossover Energy, which plan to operate in the Orinoco Belt, the South American country's prime oil province of heavy and extra heavy crude. The deals were signed in the presence of Jarrod Agen, President…

Indian Oil Co. has hiked the price of liquefied petroleum gas for local industrial users and the price of jet fuel, but only for foreign airlines, Reuters has reported, citing a company statement. LPG prices for household consumers were kept unchanged. For industrial consumers, however, LPG will be 47.8% more expensive, reflecting the squeeze in supply resulting from the war in the Middle East. Meanwhile, foreign airlines buying Indian jet fuel will need to pay $76.55 more per kilolitre, for a total price of $1,511.86 per kilolitre. Some 60% of…

A couple of days ago, the United Arab Emirates announced that it will formally leave OPEC on May 1, with the Middle East oil giant becoming the latest country to cut ties with the organization in recent years. The UAE is among the world’s leading oil producers and OPEC’s third-largest, trailing only Saudi Arabia and Iraq. The UAE is ostensibly leaving the cartel, driven by a desire to capitalize on oil assets before the peak transition to renewable energy, with the country looking to bypass OPEC production constraints and boost oil…

With oil and gas supply in a crunch, demand for alternatives has surged over the past two months. Analysts expect wind and solar to explode as countries seek to reduce their dependence on hydrocarbons that are now in short supply. For that to stand a chance of working, however, it needs one more thing: batteries. Cheap batteries. A team of Chinese scientists just announced a breakthrough in that area. The news broke earlier this week, with researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences saying they had developed what they called an “all-iron”…

Asia’s first knee-jerk reaction to the shock loss of crude supply from the Middle East was to fire up coal power plants, save fuel, and scour the global markets for alternative oil deliveries. While the Iran war and the Strait of Hormuz crisis prompted immediate measures to reduce oil and gas consumption, the quiet electrification revolution across South and Southeast Asia – outside of the headline-grabbing Chinese renewables and EV boom – is now gaining momentum. Asia felt the current crisis first, and it hit hard. Iran Crisis…

Major innovation is needed to diversify the global battery sector. Lithium-ion batteries are taking over the world – you probably have a few within reach at this very moment in your rechargeable devices. And since China controls the world's lithium supply chains and dominates global lithium-ion battery manufacturing, the global tech sector has become dangerously consolidated. Breaking this dependency on China will require breaking our dependency on lithium, creating a dire need for the development of viable alternative battery technologies.…

Repsol is holding off on its plans to list its upstream business in the United States, even as the unit is structurally ready to go public. Chief Executive Josu Jon Imaz said the company sees no urgency to move forward with an IPO or reverse merger in the near term, despite earlier indications that a liquidity event could take place in 2026. “We are comfortable in the current situation and we are not going to jump into a liquidity event in the short term,” Imaz said. Imaz said upstream fundamentals are expected to improve further in…

Repsol is holding off on its plans to list its upstream business in the United States, even as the unit is structurally ready to go public. Chief Executive Josu Jon Imaz said the company sees no urgency to move forward with an IPO or reverse merger in the near term, despite earlier indications that a liquidity event could take place in 2026. “We are comfortable in the current situation and we are not going to jump into a liquidity event in the short term,” Imaz said. Imaz said upstream fundamentals are expected to improve further in…

The statewide average for 87-octane gasoline in California has topped $6 a gallon as the Iran-war-driven global energy crunch ripples across the West Coast, the hardest-hit U.S. region. Meanwhile, the national average remains above the politically sensitive $4-a-gallon threshold, hovering around $4.30, according to AAA data as of Thursday morning. It’s clear that bad ‘green’ energy policies by unhinged, left-wing politicians in the Golden State have left the state’s energy complex in a total mess, with no buffers. "That’s…