Three years ago, Germany led an EU-wide offensive against Russian pipeline gas imports. These imports were no longer wanted in Europe because of the war in Ukraine. They would be replaced with LNG—for a short while—because the EU, and Germany, were firmly on their way to net zero. Now, Germany is in the LNG game for the long haul, building import terminals with a target of over 70 million tons annually—including from Russia. Reuters this week published an overview of Germany’s efforts to boost imports of liquefied natural…

E-waste is a massive and rapidly growing issue as more and more of our electronic devices reach the end of their life and end up in landfills. Today, e-waste is the fastest growing solid waste stream on the planet.  Finding new ways to breathe life into old electronics or to harvest their valuable components for upcycling, such as costly metals and rare earth minerals, is not only critical to closing this wasteful loop, but could also be an enormous economic advantage for the tech manufacturing sector. One of these newest innovations tackles…

MP Materials shares surged on Wednesday after the company announced a joint venture with Saudi Arabia’s Ma’aden to build a rare-earths processing and magnet manufacturing hub in the kingdom, a move that positions the U.S. producer inside one of the world’s fastest-growing critical-minerals investment programs. The partnership will give MP a new downstream base in the Gulf as Saudi Arabia accelerates its bid to become a major player in the global rare earth supply chain.The companies will establish a refinery and separation plant…

Iraqis voted in a parliamentary election on 11 November and, though pre-election surveys predicted a record-low turnout, the final total turnout was 56.11% according to the Independent High Electoral Commission.  (Turnout for the 2021 parliamentary election was 43.3%.) Incumbent prime minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani’s Construction and Development Coalition, won 46 seats in the 329-seat Council of Representatives of Iraq. Now the election is over and Sudani faces the task of building a governing coalition. (After the 2021 election,…

Is AI in a bubble? When will the bubble burst? Are there signs? Well, we don’t have a crystal ball, but there are signs. On the markets, several prominent investors have spoken. Peter Thiel, one of the best-known tech investors, has sold his entire position in Nvidia. SoftBank, a huge Japanese tech investor is unloading its shares, too. Meanwhile, Michael Burry, of Big Short fame, warns of an impending bubble burst. And the head of Swedish fintech Klarna, a man with major AI holdings, said that he’s thinking of hedging his positions…

One week ago we said that "hundreds of billions" of dollars are about to be loaned out to nuclear projects by the US government. Well, the first billion is about to be wired.  The Wall Street Journal reports Constellation Energy has secured a $1 billion federal loan from the Energy Department's Loan Programs Office (LPO) to restart the Unit 1 reactor at the Three Mile Island reactor plant in Pennsylvania, recently renamed the Crane Clean Energy Center. Constellation has said it would pay about $1.6 billion to restart the plant in 2027. …

Alaska’s production outlook is shifting for the first time in nearly a decade, with the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Wednesday projecting that North Slope crude output will rise by some 13% next year as two large fields move into high-volume phases.  This would mark the strongest annual increase since the 1980s and a rare break from the long decline that has steadily reduced throughput on the Trans-Alaska Pipeline (TAPS). The agency ties the anticipated jump to new wells and extended-reach drilling tied to major North…

Alaska’s production outlook is shifting for the first time in nearly a decade, with the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Wednesday projecting that North Slope crude output will rise by some 13% next year as two large fields move into high-volume phases.  This would mark the strongest annual increase since the 1980s and a rare break from the long decline that has steadily reduced throughput on the Trans-Alaska Pipeline (TAPS). The agency ties the anticipated jump to new wells and extended-reach drilling tied to major North…

Renewable energies are exploding in emerging economies as the economics of wind and solar make it the obvious choice in most national and regional contexts. What’s more, the rapidly changing economics of renewables are not just saving money for developing countries, they could soon be making money in considerable sums in many emerging economies. A recent study from Oxford University finds that low- and middle-income countries stand to benefit the most from adopting renewable energies, with potential GDP gains of around 10 percent in the next…

Poland suspects Russian intelligence services were behind an explosion on a major Polish railway line used to transport military goods and aid to Ukraine, an act Prime Minister Donald Tusk called an "unprecedented act of sabotage." In the first comments where a Polish official suggested Moscow was behind the attack over the weekend, Jacek Dobrzynski, a spokesperson for Poland's special services minister, said the blast was an attempt "to destabilize" and "spread fear." In a speech to Polish lawmakers after the extraordinary meeting, Tusk said that…

Saudi Arabia’s crude oil exports hit a seven-month high in September as its production jumped to a 29-month high, the latest data by the Joint Organizations Data Initiative (JODI) showed on Wednesday.  Even as Saudi refinery runs rose by 38,000 barrels per day (bpd) in September from August, crude oil shipments from the world’s top crude exporter increased by 53,000 bpd, according to the data.    The increase may not seem much but it was the highest level since February and above the 2020-2024 five-year average for…

Saudi Arabia’s crude oil exports hit a seven-month high in September as its production jumped to a 29-month high, the latest data by the Joint Organizations Data Initiative (JODI) showed on Wednesday.  Even as Saudi refinery runs rose by 38,000 barrels per day (bpd) in September from August, crude oil shipments from the world’s top crude exporter increased by 53,000 bpd, according to the data.    The increase may not seem much but it was the highest level since February and above the 2020-2024 five-year average for…

Saudi Arabia’s crude oil exports hit a seven-month high in September as its production jumped to a 29-month high, the latest data by the Joint Organizations Data Initiative (JODI) showed on Wednesday.  Even as Saudi refinery runs rose by 38,000 barrels per day (bpd) in September from August, crude oil shipments from the world’s top crude exporter increased by 53,000 bpd, according to the data.    The increase may not seem much but it was the highest level since February and above the 2020-2024 five-year average for…

Crude oil inventories in the United States decreased by 3.4 million barrels during the week ending November 14, after gaining 6.4 million barrels in the week prior, according to new data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released on Wednesday. The increase brings commercial stockpiles to 424.2 million barrels according to government data, which is 5% below the five-year average for this time of year. The EIA’s data release follows API’s figures that were released a day earlier, which suggested that crude oil inventories…

The world’s oil demand jumped in September by 1.4 million barrel per day (bpd) compared to August and by 1.8 million bpd from a year earlier, driven by higher consumption in the United States and Indonesia, the monthly report by the Joint Organizations Data Initiative (JODI) showed on Wednesday.  At the same time, global crude oil exports rose by 1.3 million bpd in September from August and by 1.5 million bpd compared to September last year, according to the most recent data self-reported by 44 countries to JODI and shared by the Riyadh-based…

The world’s oil demand jumped in September by 1.4 million barrel per day (bpd) compared to August and by 1.8 million bpd from a year earlier, driven by higher consumption in the United States and Indonesia, the monthly report by the Joint Organizations Data Initiative (JODI) showed on Wednesday.  At the same time, global crude oil exports rose by 1.3 million bpd in September from August and by 1.5 million bpd compared to September last year, according to the most recent data self-reported by 44 countries to JODI and shared by the Riyadh-based…

Reclining on stage at the 26th COP summit in his native Glasgow, Alan Jope was at home both literally and spiritually. The Unilever chief executive had spent three years establishing himself as one of the corporate world’s most passionate climate and diversity advocates, vowing to accelerate predecessor Paul Polman’s environmental, social and governance leadership. And with his company a principal partner at the biggest climate summit in history, the Scotsman’s efforts had reached their natural apogee. “We think there are…

Serbia’s only refinery Naftna Industrija Srbije (NIS), majority owned by Russian state energy firms and sanctioned by the United States, said on Wednesday it had applied for a special U.S. license to continue operations until talks for an ownership change conclude.   On Tuesday, NIS submitted a new request to the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the U.S. Department of the Treasury for the issuance of a special license that would enable the company to operate without disruptions, the Serbian company said.  Gazprom…

Oil prices eased in early Asian trading on Wednesday as traders reacted to another rise in U.S. oil inventories and signals continue to mount that global supply is running ahead of demand. At the time of writing, WTI was trading at $60.59 per barrel, down 0.25% on the session, while Brent slipped to $64.71, down by roughly 0.3%. The drop came after prices had climbed in the previous session on the back of Trump announcing interviews for a new Fed chair, a statement that briefly lifted risk sentiment by reviving expectations of a more growth-friendly…

The US and Great Britain are ramping up their efforts to secure the strategic advantage they created for the West in the Middle East by removing Russia’s key man in Syria, Bashar al-Assad, in December. A critical part of the political, economic, religious, and security fabric of the Middle East, it is also a crucial link from there to Africa in the south and to Europe in the West, by dint of its long Mediterranean coastline, as analysed in full in my latest book on the new global oil market order. The key to keeping Syria aligned with…