China on Tuesday signaled it would not end its ties and trade relations with Iran following the U.S. sanctions unveiled on Monday that target Chinese and Hong Kong entities for helping Iran do business. On Monday, the U.S. Administration announced a series of new sanctions against individuals and entities linked with Iranian trade and economy, including the shipping and oil industry. However, “Operation Economic Outcast,” launched by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, stopped short of sanctioning any Chinese banks. The oil trade remains…

The artificial intelligence boom is supercharging the development of next-gen nuclear energy technology. Big Tech and private equity are catalyzing the research and development of cutting-edge approaches to round-the-clock clean energy production as hyperscalers add power-hungry data centers to the grid at a blistering rate.  “A single hyperscale data center can consume as much electricity as 50,000 homes,” writes the MIT Energy Initiative. “U.S. data centers consumed more than 4% of the country’s total electricity…

U.S. sanctions pressure on Iran intensifies, but Pakistani mediation hopes push Brent back to $89. US Blockade Leaves Iran’s Oil Trade on Borrowed Time - The announcement of the Trump administration’s ‘Economic D-Day’ sanctions on Iran coincides with an overall slump in Tehran’s crude exports, choked off by the US Navy’s maritime blockade in the Gulf of Oman.  - Iran’s August crude exports have so far been minimal compared to the 2025 average of 1.7 million b/d, averaging only slightly around 0.3 million…

Equinor sees a multi-billion LNG export project in Tanzania becoming more attractive for development amid the Middle East conflict that has crippled liquefied natural gas supply through the Strait of Hormuz, a senior executive at the Norwegian energy major said on Tuesday. However, Equinor and its co-operator of the project, Shell, have been locked in difficult negotiations with the government and authorities in Tanzania for years and the provisional Tanzania LNG project has not advanced much this decade. “You don't want to wait too long…

Equinor sees a multi-billion LNG export project in Tanzania becoming more attractive for development amid the Middle East conflict that has crippled liquefied natural gas supply through the Strait of Hormuz, a senior executive at the Norwegian energy major said on Tuesday. However, Equinor and its co-operator of the project, Shell, have been locked in difficult negotiations with the government and authorities in Tanzania for years and the provisional Tanzania LNG project has not advanced much this decade. “You don't want to wait too long…

Equinor sees a multi-billion LNG export project in Tanzania becoming more attractive for development amid the Middle East conflict that has crippled liquefied natural gas supply through the Strait of Hormuz, a senior executive at the Norwegian energy major said on Tuesday. However, Equinor and its co-operator of the project, Shell, have been locked in difficult negotiations with the government and authorities in Tanzania for years and the provisional Tanzania LNG project has not advanced much this decade. “You don't want to wait too long…

The world’s biggest oil refiner, China’s state-held Sinopec, is looking to transform its business as domestic fuel sales crumble amid the electric vehicle boom. China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation, as Sinopec is officially known, will be allocating more capital to new energy and chemicals by the end of the decade to grow revenues and profits amid the lowest domestic fuel sales in China in nearly a decade. “As the company grows in scale, its ability to respond to market changes becomes inadequate, and the 'big company syndrome'…

US sanctions experts say the Trump administration's new campaign to economically isolate Iran could be an effective escalation -- but only if Washington backs its threats with action. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent unveiled what he called “Operation Economic Outcast” on August 24, describing it as an unprecedented effort to force Iran's trading partners to choose between maintaining commercial ties with Tehran and access to the US financial system. Yet Bessent announced few immediate measures, leaving the central question unresolved:…

Ukraine continues to pound Russian refineries in nearly daily drone attacks that damage refining infrastructure, deepen the fuel crisis in Russia, and tighten global fuel markets. In the latest attack on Monday night, Ukrainian forces hit the 180,000-barrels-per-day Afipsky refinery in the southern Russian region of Krasnodar. A fire broke out at the refinery as a result of the strike, the governor of the Krasnodar region, Veniamin Kondratiev, wrote in a post on Telegram on Tuesday.   At least 10 homes were damaged in the Afipsky village and…

Trump’s “economic D-Day” against Iran is built around one of Washington’s most powerful weapons: access to the U.S. financial system. The problem is that the deeper Washington pushes into Iran’s remaining trade, the bigger the targets become. China buys more than 80% of Iran’s seaborne crude. Iraq relies on Iranian gas for as much as 40% of its electricity generation. Turkey imported 4.5 bcm of Iranian gas in the first half of this year, while India still maintains a heavily one-sided trade relationship with…

More than half a year after the U.S. captured and extracted Nicolas Maduro from Venezuela, the biggest American oil firms haven’t returned to operating oilfields in the world’s largest oil reserves holder. Chevron, which has operated in Venezuela throughout Maduro’s reign, is extracting and exporting oil to the U.S., but neither ExxonMobil nor ConocoPhillips have returned as negotiations led by Venezuela’s state oil firm PDVSA are not progressing as fast as the U.S. Administration probably thought in January when it extracted…

The United States is forging ahead with its critical minerals ambitions, investing billions in securing non-Chinese supply, while in Europe, the central EU government “hesitate, over-administrate, talk and lose time.” The EU was already behind the U.S. on critical minerals. Now, it has fallen further behind, which means a lot more work would need to be done to catch up. The quote above comes from the head of a Europe-wide organization representing critical minerals companies. Bernd Schaefer spoke to the Financial Times this month, lamenting…

The fertilizer crisis is usually framed as a natural gas problem. When gas prices rise, ammonia costs rise, fertilizer plants reduce production, and farmers become exposed to a global commodity chain they cannot control. That diagnosis is correct but incomplete. Across Europe, thousands of anaerobic digesters are already producing a methane-rich gas close to the farms and food industries that consume fertilizer. Most sites burn it in a combined heat and power unit, upgrade it to biomethane, or flare a small surplus. Very few ask a more disruptive…

Yemen's Houthis on Monday targeted the Saudi oil tanker Amzan in the Red Sea off Yanbu with a ballistic missile and drones, the Iran-aligned militant group announced. Soon after initial reports emerged, Saudi Arabia confirmed the attack, with Saudi shipping company Bahri stating that its Amzan vessel was involved in a hostile incident in regional waters. Yahya Saree, the military spokesman for the Houthi rebels in Yemen, described that the attacks were carried out using ballistic missiles and drones and were executed as part of the…

The Trump administration has revealed the details of its “economic D-Day” campaign against Iran, expanding secondary sanctions that threaten foreign companies with exclusion from the U.S. financial system for continuing to do business with Tehran and targeting nearly 60 individuals, entities and vessels in the first round of new measures. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Monday formally launched “Operation Economic Outcast,” giving countries a defined, but unspecified, timeline to shut down Iran-related activity identified…

The Trump administration has revealed the details of its “economic D-Day” campaign against Iran, expanding secondary sanctions that threaten foreign companies with exclusion from the U.S. financial system for continuing to do business with Tehran and targeting nearly 60 individuals, entities and vessels in the first round of new measures. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Monday formally launched “Operation Economic Outcast,” giving countries a defined, but unspecified, timeline to shut down Iran-related activity identified…

The Trump administration has revealed the details of its “economic D-Day” campaign against Iran, expanding secondary sanctions that threaten foreign companies with exclusion from the U.S. financial system for continuing to do business with Tehran and targeting nearly 60 individuals, entities and vessels in the first round of new measures. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Monday formally launched “Operation Economic Outcast,” giving countries a defined, but unspecified, timeline to shut down Iran-related activity identified…

Norway is producing oil and gas faster than the industry is finding new resources, increasing the risk of a steep decline after 2030, according to a new report from the Norwegian Offshore Directorate. The warning comes despite strong current activity. Norwegian oil production reached its highest level since 2009 last year, while petroleum investment in 2026 is estimated at approximately $25 billion. Much of today’s spending supports projects and discoveries made years ago. Maintaining production beyond this decade will require more exploration,…

TotalEnergies will invest in two major oil pipelines designed to bypass the Strait of Hormuz, backing Abu Dhabi’s expansion of its Fujairah export route and a planned pipeline carrying Iraqi crude through Syria to the Mediterranean. CEO Patrick Pouyanné announced the commitments Monday at the ONS energy conference in Norway, two months after saying investment in alternative Gulf export routes had become an “absolute priority” for TotalEnergies following the paralysis of Hormuz during the Iran war. The company has not disclosed…

The United States has fingered over 40 countries, including Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, as alleged accomplices in helping China engage in tariff evasion schemes designed to maintain the country’s US-bound exports, according to a Trump Administration white paper. Titled the Great Transshipment Scam, the White House document assails China for engaging in mercantilist practices that run counter to World Trade Organization principles. It identifies countries that are aiding China’s efforts to evade US trade restrictions,…