A group of Ugandan farmers on Tuesday filed a case in the UK High Court against the developer of a $5-billion oil pipeline in East Africa, seeking to stop the nearly completed project on environmental grounds. The $5 billion East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), which will transport crude from Uganda’s Albertine Graben to Tanzania’s Tanga port, is nearly completed, after years of delays and controversies surrounding the project. The development of EACOP is being led by French supermajor TotalEnergies. However, EACOP has drawn environmental…

NATO leaders are meeting in the Turkish capital, Ankara, for the alliance’s annual summit on July 7-8 in the shadow of the Iran war and American complaints that not all European allies are pulling their weight when it comes to defense spending. The expectation is that US President Donald Trump will have harsh comments for several of his European counterparts as they meet for a dinner on the first day and then an expected three-hour session of the North Atlantic Council on the second and final day. The following are six things to watch for…

Indian state-held refiners are considering buying Iranian crude oil if the United States extends the waiver on Iran’s oil sales beyond August or further eases restrictions on that trade. As part of the 14-point memorandum of understanding with Iran, the United States in mid-June authorized the production, delivery, and sale of crude oil, petrochemical products, and refined oil products of Iranian origin through August 21, 2026. The temporary U.S. waiver has opened the door for Iranian oil sales in the Asian region, but refiners are not really…

Indian state-held refiners are considering buying Iranian crude oil if the United States extends the waiver on Iran’s oil sales beyond August or further eases restrictions on that trade. As part of the 14-point memorandum of understanding with Iran, the United States in mid-June authorized the production, delivery, and sale of crude oil, petrochemical products, and refined oil products of Iranian origin through August 21, 2026. The temporary U.S. waiver has opened the door for Iranian oil sales in the Asian region, but refiners are not really…

The United Arab Emirates raised ‌its crude output to near record highs above 3.8 million barrels per day in June, after the Gulf nation quit OPEC to escape production caps, Reuters reported citing two sources familiar with production data said on Monday. Bloomberg data showed even higher UAE exports, rising to 3.94mmb/d, just shy of the record hit in late 2025. June's output was the highest since April 2020, according to Reuters estimates, exceeding levels seen before the Iran war and providing an early vindication…

Germany is moving to create a state-owned strategic emergency reserve of natural gas to boost its energy security, the Economy Ministry of Europe’s biggest economy said on Tuesday. Earlier today, Reuters reported that the strategic government-owned reserve would require up to $1.7 billion (1.5 billion euros) to build the reserve and buy the gas to inject into the storage in 2027 and 2028. The emergency gas reserve would hold volumes of gas equivalent to nearly 10% of all the gas storage capacity in Germany. The funding for the reserve will…

Abu Dhabi’s national oil company ADNOC on Tuesday signed a 15-year long-term deal to supply gas from the UAE’s Ruwais LNG project to Japanese firm Inpex starting from 2028. Under the deal, Inpex, Japan’s largest exploration and production company, will receive 1 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of liquefied natural gas from the Ruwais LNG project, currently under development in Al Ruwais Industrial City in Abu Dhabi. The agreement “further strengthens the longstanding relationship between INPEX and the ADNOC Group,”…

The U.S. Army has placed REalloys at the center of America’s drive to rebuild its heavy rare earth supply chain, selecting the company to build and operate the first-ever commercial critical mineral processing operation on a U.S. military installation. REalloys plans to build a heavy rare earth processing complex at the Tooele Army Depot in Utah capable of refining dysprosium and terbium, two of the most strategically important rare earth elements used in high-temperature permanent magnets for defense systems. For the first time, commercial…

For decades, countries have been competing by setting up larger energy sectors, deeper ports, or stronger digital economies. That era is ending. The emerging global economy, even if it being fractured, is no longer defined by excellence in individual sectors but by the ability to integrate them into a single strategic ecosystem. Energy powers artificial intelligence, AI optimizes logistics, while maritime infrastructure enables both physical and digital trade. Few governments have fully grasped this structural transformation. Abu Dhabi has. The…

The oil majors are set for windfall earnings for the second quarter, which saw crude oil prices jump to a four-year high due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. The earnings at both ExxonMobil and Chevron are expected to have tripled in the April to June quarter compared to the first quarter, as the worst supply disruption in the history of oil markets crippled oil flows from the Middle East, triggered crude price spikes and heightened volatility, and depleted oil inventories, including in the United States. Exxon is estimated to have booked…

Nigeria is trying to rebuild its energy industry from the ground up, not only trying to recover lost crude production, but working to turn itself into Africa’s dominant refining, gas, capital markets and energy export hub. The clearest test is the Dangote Refinery. The 650,000-barrel-per-day plant has already changed Nigeria’s fuel market and is now preparing for what could become the largest IPO in African history. Dangote Refinery is seeking to raise around $4 billion at a valuation of roughly $40 billion, a listing that would place…

Saudi Arabia has shipped roughly 34 million barrels of crude through the Strait of Hormuz since the June 17 ceasefire, according to Kpler cargo-tracking data, even though only about 27 commercial vessels per day have been transiting the waterway with active AIS signals, according to IMF PortWatch. Commercial traffic remains at roughly one-third of its pre-war level of about 84 daily vessel transits, even as crude exports continue to recover. On July 4, only 25 vessels crossed the strait with active AIS transmissions, while Bloomberg reported that…

Saudi Arabia has shipped roughly 34 million barrels of crude through the Strait of Hormuz since the June 17 ceasefire, according to Kpler cargo-tracking data, even though only about 27 commercial vessels per day have been transiting the waterway with active AIS signals, according to IMF PortWatch. Commercial traffic remains at roughly one-third of its pre-war level of about 84 daily vessel transits, even as crude exports continue to recover. On July 4, only 25 vessels crossed the strait with active AIS transmissions, while Bloomberg reported that…

The Energy Institute has released the 2026 Statistical Review of World Energy, published in partnership with Ember and in collaboration with KPMG and Kearney. The Statistical Review was previously published for more than 70 years by BP, and it remains one of the most useful annual references for understanding the global energy system. The full report and data can be found at this link. Over the next month, I will dig into the major categories in the report, including oil, natural gas, coal, renewables, electricity, and carbon dioxide emissions.…

Let’s say that the Iran war has ended. Being investors, not political pundits or military strategists, we won’t opine on who won. Major events, however, have investment consequences. The incontrovertible winners, on a short and long-term basis, are the engineering, infrastructure, and construction firms that repair the damage, and the munitions manufacturers that replace the equipment consumed in the war. Nobody else comes close. What about oil? Oil prices have already retreated. Iran may rejoin the world oil market, adding to supply.…

The UAE is wasting little time capitalizing on its exit from OPEC, with crude production already climbing above 3.8 million barrels per day in June, its highest level in more than six years, as Abu Dhabi rapidly converts spare capacity into exports despite weaker oil prices. Production has accelerated since the UAE formally withdrew from OPEC and OPEC+ on May 1, ending years of output restrictions that had limited its ability to fully utilize its production capacity. Energy Minister Suhail Al Mazrouei said the UAE’s investments in upstream…

Depending on whom you talk to, the Colorado River serves either 35 million or 40 million people, all of whom are having to reconsider how much water they use and how they use it in the wake of an ongoing megadrought that arrived at the beginning of this century. The changes are no longer in the "let's-discuss-this" phase as the federal government threatens to impose up to a 40 percent cut in river water allocations over the next 10 years if the seven western states—Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, and California—and…

Russian crude oil prices have fallen back to where they were before the Middle East war, with its flagship Urals averaging just $41.66 a barrel during the first three days of July. The drop wipes out the revenue boost Moscow received from the conflict and pressures a federal budget that assumes oil prices of about $59 a barrel.  Urals had averaged more than $59 a barrel every month since March and climbed to $60.92 in June after the U.S. and Iran reached an agreement to restore shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. Higher prices gave the…

For much of the past decade, carbon credits have suffered from a credibility problem. Critics called them greenwashing, environmental groups questioned their effectiveness, and a series of poorly designed projects damaged confidence in the entire market. As a result, carbon credits found themselves in an uncomfortable position: too important to abandon, yet too controversial to fully embrace. That is why a seemingly technical announcement from Hess Corporation deserves far more attention than it has received. The U.S. energy company has now retired…

The UK's cost to meet its ambitious net-zero and clean power goals is a massive $667 billion, or £500 billion, which would be heavily front-loaded capital expenditure that will hurt businesses and bill payers, according to trade association Energy Industries Council. Estimates from the Climate Change Committee (CCC) and the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) suggest that the necessary energy and energy infrastructure projects, including renewable energy, grid, and transmission upgrades and expansions, would cost £500-600 billion,…