Europe’s energy sector is facing a stress test unlike any it has ever seen before. Not only are the markets being battered by the latest in a long succession of geopolitical supply chain snags thanks to the war in Iran, but the continent is also facing blistering heat waves that are pushing the grid to its absolute limit and increasing the risk of rolling blackouts when temperatures are dangerously high. As the fastest warming continent in the world, Europe needs to adjust to extreme heat as the new normal, and it needs to adapt its…

The Netherlands will miss its target to fill natural gas storage sites ahead of the winter, its gas network operators said on Wednesday, in one of the first evidence-based signs that Europe may be struggling to have sufficient supply for a harsh winter. Gasunie, the Dutch gas network operator, on Wednesday warned that the country will miss its target to have 115 terawatt-hours (TWh) worth of gas supply. In response to recent media reports about the state of the storage filling, Gasunie said that “based on the latest developments, the Netherlands…

The Netherlands will miss its target to fill natural gas storage sites ahead of the winter, its gas network operators said on Wednesday, in one of the first evidence-based signs that Europe may be struggling to have sufficient supply for a harsh winter. Gasunie, the Dutch gas network operator, on Wednesday warned that the country will miss its target to have 115 terawatt-hours (TWh) worth of gas supply. In response to recent media reports about the state of the storage filling, Gasunie said that “based on the latest developments, the Netherlands…

The government’s National Wealth Fund is set to pump £71m into miner Tungsten West in a bid to help reopen the Hemerdon mine in Devon. The funding package combines a £36m share purchase, which will hand the government a 7.4 per cent stake in Tungsten and a seat on the board of directors, and a £25m loan facility. The project is expected to boost the local economy in the South West of England through the creation of 350 direct jobs. In addition to financial backing, the government will gain the option to buy up to half of…

The Netherlands will miss its target to fill natural gas storage sites ahead of the winter, its gas network operators said on Wednesday, in one of the first evidence-based signs that Europe may be struggling to have sufficient supply for a harsh winter. Gasunie, the Dutch gas network operator, on Wednesday warned that the country will miss its target to have 115 terawatt-hours (TWh) worth of gas supply. In response to recent media reports about the state of the storage filling, Gasunie said that “based on the latest developments, the Netherlands…

Crude oil inventories in the United States saw an increase of 100,000 barrels during the week ending August 21, according to new data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released on Wednesday. The increase brings commercial stockpiles to 428.9 million barrels, according to government data, which are now 1% above 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 reported that crude oil inventories had risen by 4.2 million barrels in the…

India’s state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) plans to invest about $200 million to revive production at the San Cristobal oilfield in Venezuela, which it shares with Venezuelan state oil firm PDVSA, Indian outlet Economic Times reported on Wednesday, citing sources with knowledge of the development. ONGC’s overseas unit ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL) holds stakes in some Venezuelan oil projects, including a 40% interest in the San Cristobal oilfield, in which PDVSA owns the remaining 60%. Earlier this month, ONGC secured a license…

India’s state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) plans to invest about $200 million to revive production at the San Cristobal oilfield in Venezuela, which it shares with Venezuelan state oil firm PDVSA, Indian outlet Economic Times reported on Wednesday, citing sources with knowledge of the development. ONGC’s overseas unit ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL) holds stakes in some Venezuelan oil projects, including a 40% interest in the San Cristobal oilfield, in which PDVSA owns the remaining 60%. Earlier this month, ONGC secured a license…

India’s state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) plans to invest about $200 million to revive production at the San Cristobal oilfield in Venezuela, which it shares with Venezuelan state oil firm PDVSA, Indian outlet Economic Times reported on Wednesday, citing sources with knowledge of the development. ONGC’s overseas unit ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL) holds stakes in some Venezuelan oil projects, including a 40% interest in the San Cristobal oilfield, in which PDVSA owns the remaining 60%. Earlier this month, ONGC secured a license…

Soaring energy prices have rekindled inflation fears in Europe since the Iran war disrupted oil and gas flows, but policy makers and bond markets appear to be more concerned about the jump in natural gas prices rather than the increase in crude oil futures. European benchmark natural gas prices have hit a five-month high in recent days, as Europe scrambles for LNG supply to fill gas storage sites ahead of the winter. Since the Middle East crisis began, Europe has started losing the competition with Asia for spot LNG supply amid spiking prices in…

India’s state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) plans to invest about $200 million to revive production at the San Cristobal oilfield in Venezuela, which it shares with Venezuelan state oil firm PDVSA, Indian outlet Economic Times reported on Wednesday, citing sources with knowledge of the development. ONGC’s overseas unit ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL) holds stakes in some Venezuelan oil projects, including a 40% interest in the San Cristobal oilfield, in which PDVSA owns the remaining 60%. Earlier this month, ONGC secured a license…

CIA Director John Ratcliffe made an unannounced visit to Moscow on August 25, US officials confirmed to RFE/RL, a rare trip that comes as Washington's efforts to end Russia's war against Ukraine have stalled and tensions over Moscow's relationship with Iran have intensified. The reason for Ratcliffe's visit, the first publicly known trip he has made to Russia since becoming CIA director under President Donald Trump, was not immediately clear. US officials familiar with his travel confirmed he flew to Moscow but declined to disclose the substance…

UK energy bills are set for a three-year high at the beginning of the winter, as higher gas prices due to the Iran war have prompted the energy regulator to raise the energy price cap on household costs by 4% for October through December. The UK energy regulator Ofgem on Wednesday published its quarterly energy price cap decision, announcing a 4% increase in the cap for the period between October 1 and December 31, 2026. The UK has a so-called Energy Price Cap in place, which protects households from excessively high bills by capping the price…

After decades confined largely to laboratories, nuclear fusion is beginning to attract the kind of money and industrial planning normally reserved for technologies expected to make it onto the grid. Global private investment in fusion hit a record $4.48 billion in 2025, up 69% from a year earlier, while some of the world’s largest energy companies are moving beyond simply backing fusion startups. Italian energy giant Eni S.p.A. (NYSE:E) now plans to deploy a commercial fusion power plant in Europe by the early 2040s or sooner, building on…

As Russia remains occupied with its war in Ukraine, Iran focuses on defending its territory against U.S. and Israeli attacks, and China maintains its involvement in both conflicts under the bar that would trigger direct conflict with America, Washington is leveraging its position in Iraq. These efforts by the U.S. and its allies have taken on further urgency as Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi announced last week that the country plans to raise oil production to between 8 million barrels per day (bpd) and 10 million bpd within six years -- so…

The American Petroleum Institute (API) estimated that crude oil inventories in the United States rose by 4.2 million barrels in the week ending August 21. Analysts had expected a 1.9 million-barrel build. In the week prior, US crude oil inventories fell by 328,000. Commercial crude oil inventories excluding the SPR have lost just over 45 million barrels over the last nineteen weeks, with US crude inventories up 5.8 million for the year, according to API data, kept in check by draws from the SPR. For the week ending August 21, another 3.7 million…

U.S. refineries have been running at full speed for months to make up for lost fuel supply from the Middle East. Fuel exports from the United States have been breaking records. This may be about to change, and not because of the war. It is oil sands maintenance season in Canada. In September, Canadian crude oil production may drop by 300,000 barrels daily due to maintenance activities in the oil sands, Rystad Energy said this week, as quoted by Bloomberg. Usually, whenever such a seasonal disruption occurs, it gets offset with crude from storage.…

Bloomberg's continuous front-month uranium futures contract (UXA1 Comdty) briefly surged above $100 a pound in late January, driven by tightening supplies, renewed government support for nuclear power, and rising electricity demand from the AI infrastructure boom. Uranium futures then retreated and remained range-bound between $84 and $87 for five months. But momentum has returned in August, with prices approaching $89 a pound, the highest level since early February. The ongoing theme is that years of underinvestment have limited mine supply growth…

Seven crude carriers were moored at Iraq’s Persian Gulf export facilities on August 24—a sharp increase from recent weeks. The carriers had a combined carrying capacity of roughly 13 million barrels, according to satellite imagery analyzed by Bloomberg. TankerTrackers.com separately said it counted and identified 13 million barrels loading Monday at Iraq’s Al Basrah Oil Terminal. That is a dramatic departure from the past several weeks, when satellite passes typically showed just one or two tankers at Iraq’s offshore export…

Seven crude carriers were moored at Iraq’s Persian Gulf export facilities on August 24—a sharp increase from recent weeks. The carriers had a combined carrying capacity of roughly 13 million barrels, according to satellite imagery analyzed by Bloomberg. TankerTrackers.com separately said it counted and identified 13 million barrels loading Monday at Iraq’s Al Basrah Oil Terminal. That is a dramatic departure from the past several weeks, when satellite passes typically showed just one or two tankers at Iraq’s offshore export…