Crude oil prices fell sharply on Monday, with Brent and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures declining nearly 3% as markets reacted to perceived progress in U.S.-Iran nuclear negotiations and mounting concerns over global demand.? Brent crude was trading down 2.2% at $66.59, and the U.S. crude benchmark, West Texas Intermediate (WTI), was down 1.92% at $63.44, unsure of how to weigh the impact of a fast-evolving tariff war theater against what analysts are interpreting as a positive progress towards shifting away from military threats.  Earlier…

Libya's dinar has plunged to record lows, driven by a sharp decline in oil revenues and escalating political unrest. The Central Bank of Libya (CBL) devalued the currency by 13.3% on April 6, setting the official rate at 5.5677 dinars per U.S. dollar—the first such move since 2020. However, the black-market rate has soared to over 7.20 dinars per dollar, reflecting deepening economic instability.? In a modest sign of recovery, Harouge Oil resumed production at its Amal Fields B-102 well, pumping 1,500 barrels per day. While this development…

The Trump administration’s tariff regime, intended to boost US manufacturing and inflict punitive damage on Chinese manufacturing, has disrupted multiple industrial supply chains into the US with cascading effects across other regions. For the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region’s oilfield services (OFS) sector, the effects are indirect but may be significant if unmitigated by national oil companies (NOCs) and OFS suppliers. With the US turning more inward, these companies can pivot sourcing to take advantage of foreign sources…

Via Metal Miner The Global Precious Metals MMI (Monthly Metals Index) saw a significant bullish action month-over-month, rising by a total of 8%. The U.S. precious metals market (and precious metals prices in general) saw dramatic swings over the past five weeks amid a backdrop of stubborn inflation, evolving interest rate expectations, new tariffs and geopolitical tensions. All of these factors have all come together to pull the index in different directions. Meanwhile, manufacturing buyers continue to feel whiplash from rapid price movements.…

Kazakhstan is adopting a non-confrontational stance as it finesses trade relations with the United States, seeking engagement rather than retaliation over the imposition of US tariffs. Deputy Trade Minister Zhanel Kushukova told journalists on April 17 that the government intended to send a delegation to Washington to hold talks on a variety of trade issues, including tariffs. The Trump administration initially hit Kazakh goods with a 27-percent tariff rate, but subsequently scaled the rate back provisionally to 10 percent. In addition, the Trump…

Ukrainian authorities reported dozens of Russian missile and drone attacks on April 21, just hours after US President Donald Trump voiced hope that an agreement would be reached between the two countries this week. Strikes were reported in Kyiv and other Ukrainian towns and cities. A man was reportedly injured by shelling in Kherson. A Ukrainian drone strike was reported in Russia’s Belgorod region. Russian state media cited the Defense Ministry in Moscow as saying that the country’s forces had “resumed” fighting in Ukraine…

Chevron and TotalEnergies just flipped the switch on oil production from the Ballymore project in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, with the project expected to pump around 75,000 barrels of oil per day at its peak.  The field, discovered back in 2018, sits about 160 miles southeast of New Orleans and is now officially flowing oil through a tieback to Chevron’s existing Blind Faith platform, cutting down costs and time in a significant victory for Big Oil in this volatile oil price landscape.  Chevron leads the project with a 60% stake,…

Chevron and TotalEnergies just flipped the switch on oil production from the Ballymore project in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, with the project expected to pump around 75,000 barrels of oil per day at its peak.  The field, discovered back in 2018, sits about 160 miles southeast of New Orleans and is now officially flowing oil through a tieback to Chevron’s existing Blind Faith platform, cutting down costs and time in a significant victory for Big Oil in this volatile oil price landscape.  Chevron leads the project with a 60% stake,…

It is sometimes difficult in the multi-dimensional world of Middle Eastern geopolitics to see the bigger picture, and this has certainly been true for many looking at the ongoing conflict between the south and the north of Iraq. The most notable superficial manifestation of this in recent times has centred on the continued embargo of independent oil sales from the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) in the north by the Federal Government of Iraq (FGI) in the south. However, this dispute has never fundamentally been about oil. It is instead…

When the going gets tough, the EU buys American gas. Or at least that’s the emerging strategy as Brussels preps a shiny new road map to wean itself off Russian fossil fuels—while simultaneously dangling a $350 billion olive branch in front of President Trump in hopes he’ll holster the tariff threats. European Council President Antonio Costa has told Bloomberg this week that the May 6 plan—to be imminently released—will send a clear political signal to energy companies: start sourcing more LNG from the good ol’…

When the going gets tough, the EU buys American gas. Or at least that’s the emerging strategy as Brussels preps a shiny new road map to wean itself off Russian fossil fuels—while simultaneously dangling a $350 billion olive branch in front of President Trump in hopes he’ll holster the tariff threats. European Council President Antonio Costa has told Bloomberg this week that the May 6 plan—to be imminently released—will send a clear political signal to energy companies: start sourcing more LNG from the good ol’…

Tesla has set its Q1 2025 earnings call for Tuesday, April 22, at 4:30 p.m. CT / 5:30 p.m. ET. As usual, the event will be livestreamed, with a recording available later on Tesla’s website. The Q1 Update Letter will be released after markets close that same day. This quarter, as multiple Tesla blogs like Teslarati have pointed out, Tesla is also adding a new element: a “Company Update.” For the first time, the term appeared in both its vehicle delivery report and on the company’s official X account. “In addition to…

U.S. refiner Phillips 66 told shareholders on Monday that they should keep in mind that activist investor Elliott, which wants to break up one of the biggest U.S. refiners, may not necessarily act in Phillips 66 shareholders’ interests as it is pursuing an acquisition of Citgo, a direct competitor of Phillips 66. Activist hedge fund Elliott Investment Management has called on Phillips 66 to spin off its midstream business and tighten up operations. However, Elliott is also pursuing an acquisition of Citgo, the U.S.-based refiner…

U.S. refiner Phillips 66 told shareholders on Monday that they should keep in mind that activist investor Elliott, which wants to break up one of the biggest U.S. refiners, may not necessarily act in Phillips 66 shareholders’ interests as it is pursuing an acquisition of Citgo, a direct competitor of Phillips 66. Activist hedge fund Elliott Investment Management has called on Phillips 66 to spin off its midstream business and tighten up operations. However, Elliott is also pursuing an acquisition of Citgo, the U.S.-based refiner…

U.S. refiner Phillips 66 told shareholders on Monday that they should keep in mind that activist investor Elliott, which wants to break up one of the biggest U.S. refiners, may not necessarily act in Phillips 66 shareholders’ interests as it is pursuing an acquisition of Citgo, a direct competitor of Phillips 66. Activist hedge fund Elliott Investment Management has called on Phillips 66 to spin off its midstream business and tighten up operations. However, Elliott is also pursuing an acquisition of Citgo, the U.S.-based refiner…

The U.S. move to penalize China-built and China-owned vessels calling at U.S. ports could lead to an oil supertanker made in China and operated by a Chinese company facing a fee of up to $5.2 million per call at a U.S. port, shipbrokers have estimated. The U.S. last week announced fees on vessel owners and operators of China based on net tonnage per U.S. voyage. The previous proposal was a per-port-entry fee of up to $1.5 million on Chinese-built vessels, and up to a $1 million per-port-entry fee on any vessel (Chinese-built or non-Chinese-built)…

Saudi Aramco and the top Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer, BYD, will explore closer collaboration in the development of new energy vehicle technologies, Saudi Arabia’s state oil giant said on Monday. Aramco’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Saudi Aramco Technologies Company (SATC), and BYD have signed a joint development agreement to explore innovative EV technologies that boost efficiency and the environmental profile of new energy vehicles. “Aramco is exploring a number of ways to potentially optimize transport efficiency, from…

Chinese privately held firm ENN Natural Gas has signed a 15-year deal to source LNG from ADNOC’s new liquefied natural gas export project, in the biggest agreement between China and the United Arab Emirates on LNG supply so far. ENN LNG (Singapore), a wholly owned subsidiary of ENN Natural Gas, has signed the long-term LNG sale and purchase agreement the national oil and gas firm of the UAE, under which ADNOC will supply approximately one million tons per annum (mtpa) of LNG to ENN NG for a period of 15 years, the Chinese firm said on Monday.…

China slashed its imports of many U.S. energy and agricultural commodities in March amid intensifying trade and tariff tensions with the United States, which are set to further reduce Chinese purchases of American goods this month and in the coming months. China’s LNG imports from the United States crashed to zero in March as China slapped tariffs on American LNG and other energy products, making these uneconomical for Chinese buyers. Last year, U.S. LNG represented about 5% of China’s imports of the super-chilled fuel. Similarly to…

This week, the Interior Department axed a major offshore wind power project in New York. The grounds for the decision to halt construction at Empire Wind 1 was a sub-par environmental assessment. The wind industry was shocked, and more shocks are coming. Yet it won’t be Trump’s administration that could eventually kill the transition. It would be the transition itself. The Trump presidency has certainly ushered in even harder times for energy transition industries than they were having to deal with before. Tariffs are a big problem,…