In a shock development, crisis-prone Argentina, South America’s second-largest economy, recently emerged as the continent’s third-largest oil producer. The surge in unconventional hydrocarbon output from Vaca Muerta, one of the world's top five shale formations, is driving significant growth in oil and natural gas production. Argentina’s national oil company YPF is leading the shale play’s development and shaping up to be one of the best run state state-owned energy companies in Latin America. Despite being nationalized…

Brazil’s oil and gas regulator ANP has approved an 18-month extension of the exploration period for the Aram block in the Santos Basin pre-salt, pushing the deadline for Petrobras and China’s CNOOC to meet their commitments to June 30, 2029, according to BNamericas. The move gives the consortium more time to advance drilling in one of Brazil’s most promising pre-salt areas, seen as critical to maintaining oil supply self-sufficiency in the next decade. The Aram block was acquired in March 2020 during ANP’s 6th production-sharing…

Brazil’s oil and gas regulator ANP has approved an 18-month extension of the exploration period for the Aram block in the Santos Basin pre-salt, pushing the deadline for Petrobras and China’s CNOOC to meet their commitments to June 30, 2029, according to BNamericas. The move gives the consortium more time to advance drilling in one of Brazil’s most promising pre-salt areas, seen as critical to maintaining oil supply self-sufficiency in the next decade. The Aram block was acquired in March 2020 during ANP’s 6th production-sharing…

The UK’s largest bioethanol plant is to shut, its owner has said, after the government decided not offer the struggling factory an emergency funding settlement after months of fraught negotiations. Vivergo Fuels had been locked in talks over its future with the business department since June, after it warned an element of the UK-US trade deal had left its operations financially unviable. But in a statement on Friday, the ABF-owned firm said its Hull plant would not be able to continue operations after the government confirmed it would not…

Top U.S. and Iraqi officials have discussed the potential resumption of oil exports from Iraq’s semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan and the role of the U.S. oil companies operating in the country, the Iraqi foreign ministry said on Monday. Oil exports from Kurdistan have now been halted for two and a half years, after they were shut in in March 2023 due to a dispute over who should authorize the Kurdish exports. Despite some breakthroughs in negotiations in recent months, the disagreements have continued. Before the halt to…

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, bolstered by the presence of key European allies, is set to meet President Donald Trump in a session that could help decide his embattled nation's future, even as Trump appeared to shift the burden to Zelenskyy to end the war with Russia. "President Zelenskyy of Ukraine can end the war with Russia almost immediately, if he wants to, or he can continue to fight," Trump wrote on Truth Social in a series of posts late on August 17, hours ahead of the scheduled White House meeting. Trump, who has attempted to…

China exported in July the highest volume of refined petroleum products since June 2024 as shipments of gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel surged by double digits from a year earlier to multi-month highs. Total oil product shipments, including gasoline, diesel, aviation fuel, and marine fuel, increased to 5.34 million tons in July, up by 7.1% compared to a year earlier, according to customs data cited by Reuters. China’s diesel and gasoline exports have dropped year to date, but shipments surged in July from the same month of 2024. Diesel exports…

China exported in July the highest volume of refined petroleum products since June 2024 as shipments of gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel surged by double digits from a year earlier to multi-month highs. Total oil product shipments, including gasoline, diesel, aviation fuel, and marine fuel, increased to 5.34 million tons in July, up by 7.1% compared to a year earlier, according to customs data cited by Reuters. China’s diesel and gasoline exports have dropped year to date, but shipments surged in July from the same month of 2024. Diesel exports…

Money managers have continued to sell off WTI crude futures contracts and are now the most bearish on the U.S. benchmark in 16 years, the latest positioning data from exchanges showed. At the end of the week to August 12, speculators held the first-ever combined net short across the two major WTI contracts (traded on CME and ICE), Ole Hansen, Head of Commodity Strategy at Saxo Bank, said on Monday in the weekly commentary on the commitment of traders (COT) reports. ICE-traded WTI—which is often used in Brent–WTI spread trades—sat…

Oil flows via the Druzhba pipeline from Russia to Hungary have been halted, following a Ukrainian attack on a transformer station, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Monday. “Ukraine has attacked again the oil pipeline to Hungary, which has halted petroleum transportation to our country,” Szijjarto posted on Facebook. This is yet another attack against Hungary’s energy security and it is “outrageous and unacceptable,” the official added. The Druzhba pipeline carries Russian crude to Central Europe.…

Oil flows via the Druzhba pipeline from Russia to Hungary have been halted, following a Ukrainian attack on a transformer station, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Monday. “Ukraine has attacked again the oil pipeline to Hungary, which has halted petroleum transportation to our country,” Szijjarto posted on Facebook. This is yet another attack against Hungary’s energy security and it is “outrageous and unacceptable,” the official added. The Druzhba pipeline carries Russian crude to Central Europe.…

U.S. LNG exports so far this year have smashed yet another record, prices are on the rise without sapping demand, and the outlook remains robust. But there’s a hitch: pipelines. Exports of liquefied natural gas from the United States between January and August this year went up by 22% from the first eight months of 2024, Reuters’ Gavin Maguire reported this week, citing data from Kpler as showing exports reached 69 million tons. This was 12.4 million tons more than U.S. LNG producers exported last year. The report also noted that domestic…

With U.S. markets trading close to record highs, many investors are now turning to dividend-paying stocks as they try to balance growth and income. Dividend investing provides a predictable and reliable source of cash flow that can complement other forms of income. Dividend stocks can also help protect your portfolio when the stock market loses steam, with predictions of a market crash growing. Studies have shown that dividend-paying stocks tend to hold up much better during market downturns, with an interesting study finding that they declined…

As China continues to grow its electric vehicle (EV) industry, it has expanded to several new markets in recent years, opening multiple production and assembly plants across Latin America. Chinese EV companies now offer a wide variety of EV models at competitive prices, making them well-suited to the Latin American market, with a growing uptake of Chinese EVs being seen in Brazil and Mexico. However, while its Latin America prospects might be good, developing successful nearshoring activities for the United States market is less certain due to…

Rystad Energy’s latest research shows the global amount of discovered, recoverable oil resources has increased by 5 billion barrels over the past year, even though 30 billion barrels were produced globally in 2024. This net increase was driven primarily by the delineation of upside potential in Argentina’s Vaca Muerta play and the Permian Delaware basin in Texas and New Mexico. Global recoverable oil resources, including estimates for undiscovered fields, stabilized at approximately 1.5 trillion barrels. The most significant revision…

Kenya has developed a strong renewable energy sector in recent years, as it aimed to diversify its energy mix beyond fossil fuels to boost its energy security. The launch of a national energy plan and the launch of a wide variety of renewable energy projects are expected to help achieve the country’s renewable energy aims, as the East African country also develops its oil production capacity. Kenya began exporting crude oil in small quantities in 2019 and hopes to start commercial crude exports in 2026, following several development delays.…

Angola is betting big on natural gas developments as a short-term increase in oil production is not expected to last despite the West African country leaving OPEC over capped production.   Companies operating in Angola have recently started up two oil projects, but they have also begun to target non-associated offshore gas plays, hoping that a massive gas resource could be waiting to be tapped.  Despite the recent oil project startups, Angola’s oil production is expected to drop to about 1 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2027,…

Nuclear power has always been a paradox. It can produce massive amounts of low-carbon electricity, yet it must constantly battle the headwinds of politics and public perception.  The latest Statistical Review of World Energy shows that while nuclear generation is growing globally—setting a new record high in 2024—the trend is anything but uniform. Some countries are charging ahead, while others are stepping back. Global Output: Modest Growth, Unevenly Shared In 2024, global nuclear generation reached 2,817 terawatt-hours, a modest…

Since coming into office, United States President Donald Trump has doubled down on his “Drill, baby, drill” statement by opening federal land for licensing and encouraging oil and gas companies to increase production. One state Trump has set his sights on is Alaska, an area where oil operations have become increasingly more controversial in recent years due to concerns over environmental degradation. President Trump hopes to double the quantity of crude moving through Alaska’s pipelines, as well as construct a giant gas project,…

Despite a discouraging political climate and unprecedented uncertainty in the United States clean energy sector, low costs of wind and solar energy continue to drive growth of the domestic clean energy sector. However, while market forces continue to support the expansion of renewable energy capacity, the sector faces critical challenges extending beyond the antagonism of the Trump administration.  The continued growth of solar and wind power risks being hampered by several mitigating factors, including (but not limited to) intensifying competition…