When the Taliban retook control over Afghanistan four years ago, China was quick to sign an oil field development deal to extract crude in the central Asian country and boost its footprint and influence there.  But the oil deal, signed in 2023 by the Taliban and China’s Xinjiang Central Asia Petroleum and Gas Co., Ltd (CAPEIC) and planned to last for 25 years, has now collapsed, with each side accusing the other of breaching the contract.  In early 2023, the Taliban signed the 25-year deal with CAPEIC for the Amu Darya oil project.…

When the Taliban retook control over Afghanistan four years ago, China was quick to sign an oil field development deal to extract crude in the central Asian country and boost its footprint and influence there.  But the oil deal, signed in 2023 by the Taliban and China’s Xinjiang Central Asia Petroleum and Gas Co., Ltd (CAPEIC) and planned to last for 25 years, has now collapsed, with each side accusing the other of breaching the contract.  In early 2023, the Taliban signed the 25-year deal with CAPEIC for the Amu Darya oil project.…

When the Taliban retook control over Afghanistan four years ago, China was quick to sign an oil field development deal to extract crude in the central Asian country and boost its footprint and influence there.  But the oil deal, signed in 2023 by the Taliban and China’s Xinjiang Central Asia Petroleum and Gas Co., Ltd (CAPEIC) and planned to last for 25 years, has now collapsed, with each side accusing the other of breaching the contract.  In early 2023, the Taliban signed the 25-year deal with CAPEIC for the Amu Darya oil project.…

Britain, France, and Germany have triggered the so-called snapback mechanism of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal to reinstate UN sanctions against Tehran. The European trio, known as the E3, wrote to the UN Security Council on August 28 to initiate the process, which takes 30 days. In a statement, the E3 foreign ministers said, "We will use the 30-day period to continue engaging with Iran regarding our extension offer or any meaningful diplomatic efforts to restore its compliance with commitments." They emphasized that they "share the fundamental objective…

Rising supply from both OPEC+ and non-OPEC+ producers, slowing demand growth after the peak summer consumption, and uncertainties about demand amid inconsistent U.S. trade and tariff policies are set to keep oil prices subdued around current levels, analysts said in the monthly Reuters poll released on Friday.  The price of Brent Crude, the international benchmark, is expected to average $67.65 per barrel this year, according to nearly three dozen economists and analysts surveyed by Reuters. The forecast in the August poll is slightly lower…

Politics, Geopolitics & Conflict Ukraine began the week with more deep-strike drone attacks on Russian infrastructure, hitting two oil refineries near Moscow and torching a drone-production site more than 1,000 km from the front, causing localized fuel shortages; Russia responded with one of its heaviest bombardments of the war, firing hundreds of drones and missiles at Kyiv and other cities, killing at least 15-21 civilians and damaging EU and British Council offices; the Kremlin says it remains open to peace talks but rejected public ceasefire…

As we digest U.S. Senator Ted Cruz’s call for the U.S. to recognize Somaliland as an independent country, the fact is, Washington can get what it needs in Somaliland without recognition and without disrupting a fragile geopolitical ecosystem. For a transactional president, which is what we have right now, the pathway is clear. What Washington could gain, one way or another, is episodic access to Berbera’s port and airfield, logistics pre-positioning through the DP World–run economic zone, and tighter maritime domain awareness…

Crude oil prices were modestly higher through Thursday’s close, with U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures settling at $64.24—up nearly 1% so far for the week. While the market remains open, the early gain masks what has been a turbulent stretch marked by intensifying geopolitical conflict, evolving global trade tensions, seasonal demand softening, and volatile inventory data. For the average investor, the big picture remains mixed: while oil prices continue to respond to headlines around Russia and Ukraine, the market is also…

Voters in Guyana, one of the world’s fastest growing economies thanks to its oil riches, are heading to the polls on September 1 to elect new parliament and president, with current President Irfaan Ali seeking a second and final term in office.   Ali and his People’s Progressive Party (PPP) won the previous elections in 2020 and managed to hold a 33 seat-majority in a 65-seat Parliament.  Opinion polls point that PPP will win the most seats again, but it is not a given that it could scrape through a majority again. The…

Previously rejected MEG Energy bidder Strathcona Resources intends to buy an additional 5% stake in MEG and vote these shares and the existing 9.2% stake against the Cenovus acquisition offer for MEG, as the latest major Canadian deal faces hurdles towards completion.     Last week, Cenovus Energy announced it has entered into a definitive arrangement agreement to acquire MEG Energy Corp in a cash and stock deal valued at US$5.7 billion (C$7.9 billion), including assumed debt. The agreement between Cenovus and MEG came after…

Competitive prices for U.S. crude in an open arbitrage window to Asia have prompted Indian state and private refiners to accelerate buying of American oil in August, trade sources told Reuters on Friday. A few weeks ago, rising prices of Middle Eastern grades opened the arbitrage window for West Texas Intermediate (WTI) to flow to Asia. Key grades from the Middle East, such as Dubai and Murban, have seen their prices rise in recent weeks on the back of strong demand for high-sulfur crude in Asia and reduced shipments of Murban. Moreover, the…

The court-ordered auction for the parent company of Citgo just got more interesting as the former preferred bidder has to sweeten its offer to stay in the race after the emergence of a surprise rival. Earlier this week, media reported that a company affiliated with hedge fund Elliott Management had emerged as the frontrunner in the bidding for PDV Holding, a PDVSA unit that owns U.S.-based Citgo. The new bidder, Amber Energy, had beaten the offer of the consortium led by miner Gold Reserve, which had previously been considered the best one of all.…

Over the past decade, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), comprising Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Oman, has advanced bold strategies to reshape its economies by reducing reliance on oil while developing new sectors like renewable energy, tourism, financial services, and digital innovation. Charting a course toward long-term economic resilience, these nations have launched sweeping infrastructure projects and enacted reforms designed to attract foreign investment. And it has worked swimmingly, so far.  During his May 2025…

The U.S. Energy Information Administration, the federal government’s chief energy data provider, has announced delays to several of its most closely watched reports following a steep reduction in staffing this year. The setbacks underscore growing concerns over the agency’s ability to maintain its role as a reliable source of market-moving information for the global energy sector. According to an EIA spokesperson, the agency’s Annual Uranium Marketing Report - originally slated for release in June - will now be published in September.…

The U.S. Energy Information Administration, the federal government’s chief energy data provider, has announced delays to several of its most closely watched reports following a steep reduction in staffing this year. The setbacks underscore growing concerns over the agency’s ability to maintain its role as a reliable source of market-moving information for the global energy sector. According to an EIA spokesperson, the agency’s Annual Uranium Marketing Report - originally slated for release in June - will now be published in September.…

Britain’s largest undeveloped oilfield has been thrown into limbo. Equinor’s Rosebank project, a $3.8 billion investment once known as the future backbone of UK energy security, has been suspended after regulators demanded new environmental approvals that account for the full carbon footprint of the oil and gas it would produce. What was supposed to be a flagship development on the UK Continental Shelf has instead become the clearest example yet of how legal challenges and climate politics are reshaping the fate of offshore hydrocarbons.…

In the late 2010s, petrochemicals were seen as the biggest driver of oil demand in the future—and it was a distant future. Yet petrochemicals are already the biggest source of oil demand growth. This growth is only going to accelerate. But first, refiners need to take care of overcapacity. Over the five years to 2024, growth in demand for petrochemicals accounted for 95% of total oil demand growth, Reuters’ Ron Bousso wrote in a column arguing that President Donald Trump’s trade war was a silver lining for the petrochemical industry…

Amid lower oil prices this year, the U.S. shale patch is in a wait-and-see mode, expecting to ride the price decline with minimal tweaks to strategies. U.S. oil producers are trimming capital expenditure budgets, relying on efficiency gains from current drilling activity to keep output levels. American oil production is rising, due to the lag between oil price slides and drilling, but large shale producers are already calling the peak of oil output, despite the Trump Administration’s best efforts to support the fossil fuels industry. “We’re…

The Bolivian presidential election is poised to have a profound impact on the country's natural gas sector, with significant implications for its commercial relationships with neighboring Argentina and Brazil. As both leading presidential candidates, former president Jorge Quiroga and Senator Rodrigo Paz, acknowledge the looming threat of declining gas production, they are under pressure to devise strategies to boost output and prevent a potentially devastating decline in exports over the next decade. The first round of the Bolivian presidential…

Global energy company Natpower is set to dwarf a key Labour investment in battery storage development as it said £1bn would be injected into one of the largest storage sites in the UK.  The new battery storage project on Sembcorp Utilities’ Wilton International Site near Middlesbrough will receive £1bn in private funding with “no government contracts required”.  Natpower UK has said the site will deliver one of the highest capacity projects for battery energy storage in the UK, with duration and capacity…