In just over two weeks since the US-Israeli strikes on Iran triggered the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, more than 12 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) of Middle East oil and gas production has been taken offline, including 7 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude supply – equivalent to roughly 7 % of total global liquids demand. Iraq has been hit hardest, with over 60% of its pre-conflict volume curtailed. Still, the more alarming reality is that the worst is likely yet to come. Rystad Energy analysis shows that in a worst-case…

The energy transition was the first trend to put the electric grid in the spotlight. Built for baseload generation rather than a swarm of wind and solar installations scattered all over the country, the grid and its expansion to incorporate more wind and solar became the main topic of transition discussions. Then came AI, and the conversation suddenly became really urgent. There is one pressing question, however. Who will pay for that expansion? The U.S. electricity grid, like all national grids, was built out in the first half of the 20th century.…

Deep Fission has finally broken ground on its cutting-edge power project in the Great Plains Industrial Park in Parsons, Kansas. The innovative start-up seeks to turn traditional nuclear power production on its head by burying it deep, deep underground – and slashing nuclear energy operational costs by up to 80 percent in the process.  “Drilling our first borehole is a major step forward,” said Liz Muller, CEO and Co-Founder of Deep Fission. “It represents the shift from concept to construction and begins the process…

An important revenue stream in Central Asia for Russia appears in danger of slowing to a trickle. The international power sector has long been lucrative for Russia, via projects developed by Rosatom, the state-controlled atomic energy entity, and other Kremlin-connected companies. But the ability of Russia and its corporate proxies to finance deals appears to be encountering increasing difficulty. Accordingly, business is slipping. Evidence of financing difficulties for Russian companies is mounting across Central Asia. For example, Kazakhstan…

China has remained publicly silent after U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday urged Beijing to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the critical oil chokepoint that has been largely shut down during the escalating war with Iran. The standoff around the narrow waterway, through which roughly 20% of the world’s oil supply normally passes, has already sent crude and natural gas prices sharply higher, raising fears of a sustained disruption to global energy flows. According to reporting by the Associated Press, Chinese officials declined to directly…

China has remained publicly silent after U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday urged Beijing to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the critical oil chokepoint that has been largely shut down during the escalating war with Iran. The standoff around the narrow waterway, through which roughly 20% of the world’s oil supply normally passes, has already sent crude and natural gas prices sharply higher, raising fears of a sustained disruption to global energy flows. According to reporting by the Associated Press, Chinese officials declined to directly…

China has remained publicly silent after U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday urged Beijing to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the critical oil chokepoint that has been largely shut down during the escalating war with Iran. The standoff around the narrow waterway, through which roughly 20% of the world’s oil supply normally passes, has already sent crude and natural gas prices sharply higher, raising fears of a sustained disruption to global energy flows. According to reporting by the Associated Press, Chinese officials declined to directly…

The world's largest single-site aluminium smelter in the Middle East cut its output by about 20% on Sunday, marking yet another troubling development for the global economy. The disruption in the Strait of Hormuz is no longer just an energy story - it's now spreading into industrial metals. These second- and third-order effects could soon disrupt global supply chains and tighten aluminium availability, thus pressuring prices higher.  Bloomberg reports that Aluminium Bahrain (Alba) began a controlled, safe shutdown of three reduction lines…

TotalEnergies expects first gas from the expansion of its Absheron gas and condensate field in Azerbaijan to flow in September 2029, the French supermajor said in an environmental impact assessment of the project’s expansion to phase two.  The Absheron Full Field Development Project envisages that the field, which started producing gas in 2023, add three subsea wells and a 143-km-long (89 miles), multiphase production pipeline delivering raw well fluids to an onshore Central Processing Facility (CPF) just southwest of the BP Sangachal…

TotalEnergies expects first gas from the expansion of its Absheron gas and condensate field in Azerbaijan to flow in September 2029, the French supermajor said in an environmental impact assessment of the project’s expansion to phase two.  The Absheron Full Field Development Project envisages that the field, which started producing gas in 2023, add three subsea wells and a 143-km-long (89 miles), multiphase production pipeline delivering raw well fluids to an onshore Central Processing Facility (CPF) just southwest of the BP Sangachal…

TotalEnergies expects first gas from the expansion of its Absheron gas and condensate field in Azerbaijan to flow in September 2029, the French supermajor said in an environmental impact assessment of the project’s expansion to phase two.  The Absheron Full Field Development Project envisages that the field, which started producing gas in 2023, add three subsea wells and a 143-km-long (89 miles), multiphase production pipeline delivering raw well fluids to an onshore Central Processing Facility (CPF) just southwest of the BP Sangachal…

Ukraine’s state energy company Naftogaz is in early-stage discussions with Romania’s OMV Petrom about jointly developing a potentially significant offshore gas discovery in the Black Sea, a project that could eventually strengthen Europe’s efforts to replace Russian gas supplies. According to a Reuters report, three industry sources said the talks relate to a field discovered by Naftogaz before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. One source described the discovery as “one of the most promising gas fields in the Black Sea…

Ukraine’s state energy company Naftogaz is in early-stage discussions with Romania’s OMV Petrom about jointly developing a potentially significant offshore gas discovery in the Black Sea, a project that could eventually strengthen Europe’s efforts to replace Russian gas supplies. According to a Reuters report, three industry sources said the talks relate to a field discovered by Naftogaz before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. One source described the discovery as “one of the most promising gas fields in the Black Sea…

Governments around the world are desperate to bring down oil prices in the wake of a cutoff of about one-fifth of the world's supply due to the Iran war. Here are some of the moves we've seen so far: The International Energy Agency, a consortium of 32 countries that coordinate energy policy and emergency readiness, called an emergency meeting to discuss the release of strategic petroleum reserves to ease prices. The countries agreed to a release of 400 million barrels from reserves held in underground caverns and above ground in storage tanks,…

The European Union foreign ministers are discussing on Monday the potential to move an already operational mission in the Middle East region to try to help unblock the Strait of Hormuz, the EU’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said ahead of the meeting.  “We will discuss the Middle East... And there, the main topic will be how to keep the Strait of Hormuz open,” Kallas said.  The EU, while receiving only 12% of Qatar’s LNG – which is now shut-in due to the war – is exposed to spiking natural gas prices…

The European Union foreign ministers are discussing on Monday the potential to move an already operational mission in the Middle East region to try to help unblock the Strait of Hormuz, the EU’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said ahead of the meeting.  “We will discuss the Middle East... And there, the main topic will be how to keep the Strait of Hormuz open,” Kallas said.  The EU, while receiving only 12% of Qatar’s LNG – which is now shut-in due to the war – is exposed to spiking natural gas prices…

There is an old military phrase that ‘no plan survives first contact with the enemy’, and it seems that Iran missed the memo on how it was meant to respond to the latest attacks on it by the U.S. and Israel. These, and the earlier attacks last year in the same vein, can be seen as an extension of the war effectively launched by Iran via its proxy Hamas’s murderous attacks of 7 October 2023 on Israel. In any event, wildcard factors are now in play that threaten sustained upheaval across the Middle East for years to come, and elevated…

Interest in the Alaska LNG export project has spiked since the war in the Middle East choked 20% of global LNG supply and sent Asian buyers scrambling for expensive spot cargoes.   Glenfarne Group, the majority owner and developer of the Alaska LNG Project, aims to sign soon binding offtake agreements with buyers and advance final investment decisions to later in 2026 and early 2027, company executives told Reuters on the sidelines of an energy conference in Tokyo on Monday.   “There's a real interest, particularly with…

The United States is close to announcing a coalition to escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz, the Wall Street Journal and Axios reported, while Iran warned that it is not close to giving up, and neighboring Iraq continued to feel the spillover effects of the war. “The Trump administration, as soon as this week, plans to announce that multiple countries have agreed to form a coalition that will escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz,” the WSJ reported on March 15, citing unnamed US officials. The report said the matter is still…

Fujairah, the UAE’s key oil export port, suspended oil loadings on Monday after another attack on the only UAE port located outside the Strait of Hormuz. The escalating conflict spreading to the entire energy infrastructure in the Middle East sent oil prices 3% higher early on Monday, with the U.S. benchmark WTI Crude topping $100 per barrel and Brent Crude above $106 per barrel. “The port is outside the Strait of Hormuz, so any disruption to oil loadings would lead to further market tightening,” ING's commodities strategists…