The U.S. stock market plunged by the widest margin in six months on Friday, with the S&P 500 shedding nearly 3% after President Donald Trump threatened “a massive increase of tariffs on Chinese products” due to its continuing strict control of the rare earths market. On Thursday, Beijing announced that it was increasing export controls for five more rare-earth metals, bringing the total number of critical minerals under export control to 12. Under the previous restrictions, Beijing required exporters to apply for a license from…

There are not enough gas turbines being manufactured in the world right now. The message has been flashing on and off in the media for months now as the AI race drives demand for electricity sharply higher and, with it, demand for new generation capacity. Despite the spike, however, not all gas turbine makers are in a rush to go all in on the AI hype. They’ve been burnt before. In September, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported that there were 114 GW of new natural gas generation capacity under construction and in pre-construction…

A two-month-long bidding war in Canada’s oil patch signaled there is another way for a company to boost its production and resources than investing in new oil sands production, which is considered the world’s most expensive source of new oil supply.   The acquisition saga for MEG Energy appears to have ended after the hostile bidder, MEG’s shareholder Strathcona Resources with a 14% stake, terminated its takeover pursuit on Friday. This followed a sweetened offer by the rival bidder, Cenovus Energy, which earlier last…

Lithium-ion batteries power the world. You probably have at least one – but probably two or three – within reach right this very moment. Lithium-ion batteries power a whopping 70 percent of all rechargeable devices, ranging in size and scope from electric vehicles to smartphones to utility-scale energy storage. But while the technology has become nearly ubiquitous in our daily lives, there is still a lot that we still don’t understand about the physical and chemical processes that power lithium-ion batteries. Until now, many aspects…

JPMorgan Chase will invest up to $10 billion in U.S. companies tied to national security, including energy, nuclear power, grid infrastructure, and critical minerals, as part of a wider $1.5-trillion capital pledge aimed at strengthening the country’s industrial base, Reuters reported on Monday. The program, branded as the bank’s “Security and Resiliency Initiative”, identifies four strategic domains: energy independence and resilience, defense manufacturing, critical minerals, and advanced technologies. Within energy, JPMorgan…

JPMorgan Chase will invest up to $10 billion in U.S. companies tied to national security, including energy, nuclear power, grid infrastructure, and critical minerals, as part of a wider $1.5-trillion capital pledge aimed at strengthening the country’s industrial base, Reuters reported on Monday. The program, branded as the bank’s “Security and Resiliency Initiative”, identifies four strategic domains: energy independence and resilience, defense manufacturing, critical minerals, and advanced technologies. Within energy, JPMorgan…

India’s latest gas discovery in the under-explored Andaman-Nicobar Basin could prove to be a valuable stepping stone towards increased domestic upstream production and greater energy security for the country – but whether the basin can become a significant contributor to India’s domestic gas supply and pull in more long-term national and international oil company interest will hinge on several factors, not least the size of the reserves. The presence of hydrocarbons within the Oil India-led Sri Vijayapuram-2 well in the Andaman…

One of the biggest mistakes we made about electrification is that we assumed that the new technologies embracing electricity, like electric vehicles for example, would embrace decarbonization at the same time. We were wrong. In fact, in the US today, exactly the opposite has occurred. The paradox of electrification without decarbonization is simple. Take, for example, two convenient symbols of electrification, an electric car and a heat pump. Both displace fossil fuel usage, but both technologies also rely on electricity. We, and others, assumed…

The signing of heads of agreement last week between U.S. energy supermajor ExxonMobil and Iraq’s Oil Ministry is perhaps the most significant of the recent deals between firms from the West and Baghdad. It is true that several others have been with similarly-high-powered global energy giants – including Chevron, BP, and TotalEnergies – and have involved multi-billion-dollar deals. But it is also the case that ExxonMobil’s exit from Iraq a few years ago was the most high-profile exit of any Western firm during that era for…

Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) on Monday announced a major offshore gas discovery at the Jaza field, reporting initial well output above 29 million standard cubic feet per day of gas and more than 5,000 barrels per day of condensate.  The company said the reservoir has low CO?, no hydrogen sulfide and no associated water, which are attributes that lower processing costs and speed tie-in options to Kuwait’s domestic network, according to Qatar News Agency, described the discovery as setting a new benchmark for vertical-well output from the…

Green hydrogen could one day provide a clean energy solution to some of the trickiest sectors to decarbonize. Hydrogen can be combusted at high heat levels, much like thermal coal or engine fuel, but instead of emitting greenhouse gases when burned, it leaves behind nothing but water vapor. This could make it indispensable for cleaning up hard-to-abate industries like steelmaking and transportation. But green hydrogen is prohibitively expensive, and may never be a commercially viable option without considerable technological advances in its production…

The Aluminum Monthly Metals Index (MMI) remained sideways, rising by a modest 0.5% from September to October. Meanwhile, the price of aluminum remains in an uptrend, supported by a growing number of factors. Novelis Oswego Fire Challenges U.S. Supply A massive fire at Novelis’ Oswego facility took a significant cut out of U.S. aluminum capacity. The September 16 event caused extensive damage throughout the facility, rendering its hot mill unusable until early 2026. The company also declared a force majeure on automotive, beverage and container…

The members of the OPEC+ group boosted their production in September by 630,000 barrels per day (bpd) from August as the alliance last month completed the unwinding of 2.2 million bpd cuts that began in April this year. Total OPEC+ crude oil production averaged 43.05 million barrels per day (bpd) in September 2025, up by 630,000 bpd from August, estimates from OPEC’s secondary sources showed in the cartel’s Monthly Oil Market Report (MOMR) out on Monday. OPEC-only production grew by 524,000 bpd to 28.44 million bpd, driven by a jump…

OPEC remains bullish on global oil demand growth for this year and next as it continues to unwind its crude production cuts.  The cartel kept unchanged its 2025 and 2026 oil demand growth forecasts in its closely-watched Monthly Oil Market Report (MOMR) for October published on Monday.   In the report, OPEC expects global oil demand to grow by about 1.3 million barrels per day (bpd) this year from 2024, and reach on average 105.1 million bpd, reflecting continued robust economic growth. The view, unchanged from last month’s…

Saudi Aramco can sustain its oil production at its maximum capacity of 12 million barrels per day (bpd) for a year without additional investments, Amin Nasser, the chief executive of the Saudi state oil giant said at the Energy Intelligence Forum in London on Monday.  Concerns have emerged among analysts in recent weeks that the reversal of the OPEC+ cuts leaves the declining spare capacity vulnerable to supply shocks. Saudi Arabia holds the world’s biggest spare capacity. It is estimated at more than 2 million bpd, but it may actually…

Saudi Aramco can sustain its oil production at its maximum capacity of 12 million barrels per day (bpd) for a year without additional investments, Amin Nasser, the chief executive of the Saudi state oil giant said at the Energy Intelligence Forum in London on Monday.  Concerns have emerged among analysts in recent weeks that the reversal of the OPEC+ cuts leaves the declining spare capacity vulnerable to supply shocks. Saudi Arabia holds the world’s biggest spare capacity. It is estimated at more than 2 million bpd, but it may actually…

Saudi Aramco can sustain its oil production at its maximum capacity of 12 million barrels per day (bpd) for a year without additional investments, Amin Nasser, the chief executive of the Saudi state oil giant said at the Energy Intelligence Forum in London on Monday.  Concerns have emerged among analysts in recent weeks that the reversal of the OPEC+ cuts leaves the declining spare capacity vulnerable to supply shocks. Saudi Arabia holds the world’s biggest spare capacity. It is estimated at more than 2 million bpd, but it may actually…

Saudi Aramco can sustain its oil production at its maximum capacity of 12 million barrels per day (bpd) for a year without additional investments, Amin Nasser, the chief executive of the Saudi state oil giant said at the Energy Intelligence Forum in London on Monday.  Concerns have emerged among analysts in recent weeks that the reversal of the OPEC+ cuts leaves the declining spare capacity vulnerable to supply shocks. Saudi Arabia holds the world’s biggest spare capacity. It is estimated at more than 2 million bpd, but it may actually…

US President Donald Trump’s arrival in the Middle East marks what could be a turning point in diplomacy in the region. But will that success renew a push to end Russia's war against Ukraine? Trump is expected to be greeted with emotional scenes in Jerusalem as he meets the families of hostages released by Hamas, listed as a terrorist organization by the United States, under a deal that he has championed. The US leader will have a chance to lay out his vision of Middle East peace at a speech in Israel's Knesset and then co-chair a summit in…

Algerian state oil and gas firm Sonatrach has signed a $5.4-billion exploration and production agreement with Saudi Arabian firm Midad Energy, Algerian news outlet Ennahar TV reported on Monday, citing a statement from Sonatrach.  The 30-year contract in the form of a production sharing agreement is for exploration and production in the Illizi Basin in eastern Algeria. The contract can be extended by another 10 years.  The deal between Sonatrach and the Saudi firm includes an exploration period of up to seven years and total investments…