The UK and Norway, two neighboring jurisdictions in the North Sea, have chosen starkly different paths to handle their oil and gas resources. The net-zero-obsessed UK is driving investors away with regulatory and tax uncertainty, while Norway – also aiming for net zero – backs further exploration and cashes in on the massive royalties. The result of the different approaches to the North Sea’s oil and gas has become glaringly evident this decade. The UK imports growing volumes of oil and gas as its mature fields are depleting and…

The rapid rise of artificial intelligence is placing unprecedented strain on global energy sources and grid infrastructure. In response to runaway projected growth trends, public and private investors are fast-tracking new data center projects at a massive scale. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), global investment in data centers reached half a trillion dollars in 2024, representing a nearly two-fold increase over the course of two years. But this rate data center addition has produced a new problem, as their construction is currently…

Sales of electric vehicles in the United States hit an all-time high in the third quarter. Normally a welcome piece of news for EV makers, the record was prompted by the end of tax incentives for EV buyers, which expired at the end of September. From now on, it’s likely to be bad news for car companies with EV plans. Kelley Blue Book reported sales of electric cars in the quarter to September shot up by 40.7% on the previous quarter and by 29.6% on the year. This trend pushed the average car price for the third quarter of the year to over…

The record gold rally of the past few months “may have peaked in trendiness”, a top investment bank has predicted despite the precious metal hitting fresh highs on Monday fuelled by Donald Trump’s threat last week to upend trade with China. Deutsche Bank said that while it was not predicting “an impending correction”, the length and intensity of the yellow metal’s upturn has made a “period of more neutral behaviour” more likely. “The gold rally of September-October may have peaked in trendiness,”…

Egypt is rolling the dice on black gold once again, announcing plans to drill 480 new exploratory oil wells over the next five years—an ambitious $5.7 billion wager that the country can claw its way back from years of production decline. The Petroleum Ministry laid out the plan this week, revealing that 101 wells are already slated for 2026, spread across Egypt’s main producing regions. The announcement didn’t specify where all that capital is coming from—never a minor detail—but the country has been cozying up to…

Egypt is rolling the dice on black gold once again, announcing plans to drill 480 new exploratory oil wells over the next five years—an ambitious $5.7 billion wager that the country can claw its way back from years of production decline. The Petroleum Ministry laid out the plan this week, revealing that 101 wells are already slated for 2026, spread across Egypt’s main producing regions. The announcement didn’t specify where all that capital is coming from—never a minor detail—but the country has been cozying up to…

The Uzbek government is allocating $100 million to turbocharge the development of the country’s AI sector.  A large chunk of the government funding is intended for initiatives to attract foreign investors to construct data centers in Karakalpakstan, an autonomous region in western Uzbekistan, Digital Technologies Minister Sherzod Shermatov said in an interview with state television.  Funding will also be used to develop AI training programs, as well as implement a “package of 86 projects” covering a variety of economic…

Oil may be having a rough week, but Occidental Petroleum’s Vicki Hollub isn’t panicking. The CEO told the Energy Intelligence Forum in London that crude prices are likely to hover in a narrow $58–$62 range through 2026, before breaking higher later in the decade. That call looks almost clairvoyant at the moment: WTI is trading at $58.76, Brent at $62.43, all deep in the red after Monday and Tuesday’s selloff. Hollub said she remains “very bullish on oil prices — not this year or next, but I’m bullish on…

Oil may be having a rough week, but Occidental Petroleum’s Vicki Hollub isn’t panicking. The CEO told the Energy Intelligence Forum in London that crude prices are likely to hover in a narrow $58–$62 range through 2026, before breaking higher later in the decade. That call looks almost clairvoyant at the moment: WTI is trading at $58.76, Brent at $62.43, all deep in the red after Monday and Tuesday’s selloff. Hollub said she remains “very bullish on oil prices — not this year or next, but I’m bullish on…

An oil surplus long prophesied by traders may finally be materializing, according to Gunvor Group CEO Torbjörn Törnqvist, who says the market is shifting from tightness to glut—though not everyone is buying the narrative just yet. “It looks like we are now moving into a bit of a different market,” Törnqvist told Bloomberg in London. “We have heard it before and people have been burned on that. But this time around at this stage I think there’s a bit more substance in the oversupplied narrative.”…

The Copper Monthly Metals Index (MMI) broke above range, with a 3.7% rise from September to October. This comes as copper prices, along with many other metals, continue to show an upside bias. Copper Joins Other Base Metals in Upward Trend Comex copper prices hit a two-month high, barreling past the 11k per metric ton mark by early October. LME copper prices lagged behind their Comex counterparts, but traveled upwards in tandem nonetheless. As of October 10, Comex and LME prices had bounced 17% and 12% from where they stood at the start of August.…

The prospect of a contango is casting a shadow over oil markets, with the entire 2026 WTI futures curve now trading below $60 per barrel—beneath breakeven levels for most new shale wells. TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanné and Vitol’s Russel Hardy warn that prices this low could cut U.S. shale output by 200,000 to 300,000 barrels per day next year, tightening supply just as demand steadies. Backwardation Fades: Crude Market Signals Trouble Ahead for 2026 The spectre of a looming contango is haunting crude oil markets, especially…

Non-OPEC crude production will begin to decline at oil prices at $60 per barrel and lower, Patrick Pouyanne, the chief executive of supermajor TotalEnergies, said on Tuesday.  “There is a point at $60 per barrel where we'll see the shale industry beginning to slow down,” Pouyanne said on the sidelines of the Energy Intelligence Forum in London, as carried by Reuters.  “Our view is that from mid-2026 non-OPEC supply will be much lower, no growth, and then OPEC will be regaining control of the market,” TotalEnergies’…

Non-OPEC crude production will begin to decline at oil prices at $60 per barrel and lower, Patrick Pouyanne, the chief executive of supermajor TotalEnergies, said on Tuesday.  “There is a point at $60 per barrel where we'll see the shale industry beginning to slow down,” Pouyanne said on the sidelines of the Energy Intelligence Forum in London, as carried by Reuters.  “Our view is that from mid-2026 non-OPEC supply will be much lower, no growth, and then OPEC will be regaining control of the market,” TotalEnergies’…

Non-OPEC crude production will begin to decline at oil prices at $60 per barrel and lower, Patrick Pouyanne, the chief executive of supermajor TotalEnergies, said on Tuesday.  “There is a point at $60 per barrel where we'll see the shale industry beginning to slow down,” Pouyanne said on the sidelines of the Energy Intelligence Forum in London, as carried by Reuters.  “Our view is that from mid-2026 non-OPEC supply will be much lower, no growth, and then OPEC will be regaining control of the market,” TotalEnergies’…

Non-OPEC crude production will begin to decline at oil prices at $60 per barrel and lower, Patrick Pouyanne, the chief executive of supermajor TotalEnergies, said on Tuesday.  “There is a point at $60 per barrel where we'll see the shale industry beginning to slow down,” Pouyanne said on the sidelines of the Energy Intelligence Forum in London, as carried by Reuters.  “Our view is that from mid-2026 non-OPEC supply will be much lower, no growth, and then OPEC will be regaining control of the market,” TotalEnergies’…

China’s latest export controls on rare-earth minerals risk not only reigniting a trade war with the United States, they could also come with far-reaching implications for efforts to rearm Ukraine and infrastructure development in Central Asia. Tensions between Beijing and Washington flared again over rare earths -- an essential group of 17 elements that find themselves in everything from electric vehicle batteries to smartphones to vital defense technology == on October 9 when China added new export controls for five rare-earth metals on…

Amid soaring supply and subdued demand, the expected global oil oversupply will be larger than previously anticipated, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Tuesday.  In its monthly report, the agency today trimmed its oil demand growth estimate for this year and next and hiked the expected supply growth, which will result in a record supply overhang. Global oil stocks are already soaring, especially oil stockpiled in tankers on water, the IEA warned.  The IEA revised down its estimate of global oil demand growth to 700,000 barrels…

Shell and its partner Sunlink Energies and Resources Limited have taken a final investment decision on the HI gas project offshore Nigeria, which will supply additional gas volumes to Nigeria LNG, the supermajor said on Tuesday.   The HI project, expected to start up by the end of the decade, will supply 350 million standard cubic feet, or about 60,000 barrels of oil equivalent, of gas per day at peak production to Nigeria LNG (NLNG), in which Shell holds a 25.6% interest.  The project will entail of a wellhead platform with four…

Shell and its partner Sunlink Energies and Resources Limited have taken a final investment decision on the HI gas project offshore Nigeria, which will supply additional gas volumes to Nigeria LNG, the supermajor said on Tuesday.   The HI project, expected to start up by the end of the decade, will supply 350 million standard cubic feet, or about 60,000 barrels of oil equivalent, of gas per day at peak production to Nigeria LNG (NLNG), in which Shell holds a 25.6% interest.  The project will entail of a wellhead platform with four…