Supertanker rates on the route between the Middle East and China hit their highest in five years as traders sought alternatives to Russian crude, Bloomberg has reported, citing a daily rate of $137,000 for last Friday. Friday was when the latest U.S. sanctions against Russia’s two top exporters, Rosneft and Lukoil, came into effect, spurring action to secure alternative supplies for Asian markets. The daily VLCC rate represented a 576% increase since the start of the year. VLCC rates on other routes also rose to the highest since 2020, at…

Growing domestic and export demand for Permian’s natural gas is pushing pipeline developers to invest in new pipeline capacity in the U.S. Gulf Coast. Chemical and manufacturing industries and data centers looking for reliable energy supply drive increased domestic consumption, while the booming LNG exports from the Texas and Louisiana coasts, and at least half a dozen new export plants expected to start up by the end of the decade, are prompting new-built or expanded links to feed gas to the LNG facilities. With a favorable in-state regulatory…

The global electric vehicle sector is facing massive uncertainty. Policy whiplash, the end of a leasing era, and a crowded market are creating a complicated landscape for EV makers, and a price war could be coming down the pike. Times are very tough for EV makers, but may be shaping up to be better than ever for EV buyers. A record number of EV leases will be returned in the United States in 2026, causing a surge in used EV supplies and therefore making the used vehicles more affordable than ever before. At least 243,000 EV leases are set to expire,…

New oil and gas drilling could commence in California if President Donald Trump gets his way, as the U.S. federal government continues to support a “Drill, baby, drill” approach to fossil fuel production.  In November, the Trump administration plans to allow new oil and gas drilling off the California coast, according to a draft plan shared with the Washington Post. This would be the first time in several decades that new exploration operations were permitted. The document outlines a plan for six offshore lease sales along the…

India has agreed to deepen its energy trade with the United States in a bid to avoid the introduction of higher tariffs on exports by President Donald Trump. In recent months, Trump has threatened several countries with tariffs if they do not import larger quantities of U.S. gas, to varying success. India, like several other Asian countries, has decided that agreeing to increase imports is the best way to help avoid its economy being hit hard by restrictions on trade with the U.S. This week, India’s Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister, Hardeep…

Australia may still stand as the world’s third-largest LNG exporter (behind Qatar and the United States) but the foundations of that success are faltering. The September 2025 start-up of the Barossa Project, designed to feed Darwin LNG, and ConocoPhillips’ November drilling success in the Otway Basin offer welcome headlines, but they do little to offset the deeper structural imbalance now shaping Australia’s national gas landscape. Most production remains concentrated in Western Australia and Queensland, far from the south-eastern…

For decades, the joke was that nuclear fusion would always be 30 years away. Harnessing the process that powers our sun here on Earth was a lofty thought experiment ripped from the pages of a science fiction novel that smacked of futurism rather than pragmatism. But in the last few years, the rate of technological breakthroughs has sped up astronomically, finally making commercial fusion a matter of when, not if.  Achieving fusion here on Earth requires staggering levels of heat – in the region of 100 million degrees Celsius –…

The International Energy Agency (IEA) predicted in 2023 that the global peak in oil demand would likely take place by 2030, as governments worldwide introduced plans for a green transition and fossil fuel companies began to diversify their portfolios to include renewable alternatives. However, this month, the IEA has backtracked on this prediction, stating that oil demand could continue growing through to 2050. This reflects a U-turn by many countries on climate commitments and by oil and gas companies on energy diversification efforts.  In…

Africa is at a clean energy crossroads. Cheap solar panels and critical lines of funding from China are affording the continent the opportunity to develop the African clean energy sector, but this access to affordable supply chains and abundant international investment comes at the cost of the continent’s energy sovereignty. African leaders must now decide if they want to take the low-hanging fruit of cooperation with China, or take the much harder road of forging their own supply chains for aid-free energy independence. Africa is in a tough…

After selecting Rolls-Royce as the United Kingdom’s preferred bidder to build the country’s first small modular reactors (SMRs), the government has confirmed the start of project development in Wales. The development of SMR technology is expected to help the U.K. expand its nuclear power capacity, as well as become a competitive SMR power. However, the United States Trump administration, which recently signed an agreement with the U.K. for SMR development, does not support the choice of a British company for the development of the technology. …

An experimental Chinese nuclear plant reportedly just crossed a historic threshold, successfully operating the world’s first thorium-based molten salt reactor (TMSR). The Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics has broken a major scientific barrier by successfully converting thorium to uranium in a historic first. The Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reports that the breakthrough, which took place at an experimental reactor out in the Gobi Desert, is “poised to reshape the future of clean sustainable…

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is in Kyrgyzstan as part of a three-country tour of Central Asia to reaffirm Beijing’s status as the region’s top trading partner following US diplomatic inroads at a high-profile summit in Washington earlier this month. US President Donald Trump hosted the five Central Asian presidents at the White House in early November for a summit focused on tapping into the region’s abundant and strategic critical mineral wealth. While not in the spotlight, China’s growing economic and political influence…

I’ve followed the promise of small modular reactors (SMRs) and next-generation nuclear in several of my earlier pieces on OilPrice. The argument is familiar: nuclear provides low-carbon baseload, ensures energy security, and will one day deliver affordable, clean power. It sounds persuasive, until you look at the numbers. New nuclear remains slow, expensive, and deeply reliant on state support. In today’s European power markets, where renewables are already driving prices to record lows or even negative territory, the idea that nuclear…

Turkmenistan is home to over two-thirds of the 25 largest methane emissions sites identified worldwide so far in 2025, according to an academic monitoring initiative. Researchers at UCLA’s Stop Methane Project mapped over 3,100 methane plumes at oil & natural gas extraction “sites in dozens of countries of all income levels and in all world regions.” They based the findings on data provided by Carbon Mapper, a non-profit working to fully chart “greenhouse gas emissions to empower mitigation action.” …

The G-20 is tiptoeing around China with a sledgehammer. In a draft declaration seen by Bloomberg, leaders called for shielding the global critical-minerals value chain from “unilateral trade measures inconsistent with WTO rules”—a diplomatic way of saying: everyone noticed what China did this year. Beijing’s licensing chokehold on dysprosium, terbium, and other heavy rare earths rattled supply chains from missile makers to EV plants, and the repercussions are still rolling through the system. Over the past six months, the…

The G-20 is tiptoeing around China with a sledgehammer. In a draft declaration seen by Bloomberg, leaders called for shielding the global critical-minerals value chain from “unilateral trade measures inconsistent with WTO rules”—a diplomatic way of saying: everyone noticed what China did this year. Beijing’s licensing chokehold on dysprosium, terbium, and other heavy rare earths rattled supply chains from missile makers to EV plants, and the repercussions are still rolling through the system. Over the past six months, the…

The total number of active drilling rigs for oil and gas in the United States rose this week, according to new data that Baker Hughes published on Friday. The total rig count in the US rose by 5 to 554 this week, according to Baker Hughes, down 29 from this same time last year. The number of active oil rigs rose by 2 in the reporting period, according to the data, reaching 419. Year over year, this represents a 60-rig decline. The number of gas rigs rose by 2 to 127, which is 28 more than this time last year. The miscellaneous rig count rose by…

Venezuela’s Parliament has approved a 15-year extension of the country’s oil-producing joint ventures with Russian companies, Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez said on Telegram as the South American country doubles down on its strategic alliance with Russia.  The 15-year extension now allows the joint ventures established under the strategic energy alliance between the two countries to continue operations until 2041, Rodriguez said, adding it is a crucial step toward Venezuela’s energy development.  “No…

Venezuela’s Parliament has approved a 15-year extension of the country’s oil-producing joint ventures with Russian companies, Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez said on Telegram as the South American country doubles down on its strategic alliance with Russia.  The 15-year extension now allows the joint ventures established under the strategic energy alliance between the two countries to continue operations until 2041, Rodriguez said, adding it is a crucial step toward Venezuela’s energy development.  “No…

Venezuela’s Parliament has approved a 15-year extension of the country’s oil-producing joint ventures with Russian companies, Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez said on Telegram as the South American country doubles down on its strategic alliance with Russia.  The 15-year extension now allows the joint ventures established under the strategic energy alliance between the two countries to continue operations until 2041, Rodriguez said, adding it is a crucial step toward Venezuela’s energy development.  “No…