Despite slumping oil prices, global refiners are turning in strong first-quarter earnings, thanks to a sharp rebound in profit margins, Reuters reports, with U.S. Gulf Coast refiners processing Mars crude enjoying a doubling of margins to some $16 per barrel, $7 margins in Singapore for Dubai crude, and a 36% margin jump in Asia for Arab Light crude.  All in all, we’re looking at refining margins for the first-quarter of this year that are better than 2024, even as upstream margins weaken and the industry at large expresses concern over…

Despite slumping oil prices, global refiners are turning in strong first-quarter earnings, thanks to a sharp rebound in profit margins, Reuters reports, with U.S. Gulf Coast refiners processing Mars crude enjoying a doubling of margins to some $16 per barrel, $7 margins in Singapore for Dubai crude, and a 36% margin jump in Asia for Arab Light crude.  All in all, we’re looking at refining margins for the first-quarter of this year that are better than 2024, even as upstream margins weaken and the industry at large expresses concern over…

Independent Chinese refiners have started to experience difficulties in procuring cheap Iranian crude oil while others have stopped purchases from Iran, after the United States sanctioned two independent refiners in the past two months, sources with knowledge of the issue have told Reuters. Chinese crude oil imports topped 12 million barrels per day (bpd) in March, the highest volume since August 2023, as flows of Iranian and Russian crude rebounded from the lows seen early this year with the U.S. sanctions. However, in March and April, the U.S.…

Independent Chinese refiners have started to experience difficulties in procuring cheap Iranian crude oil while others have stopped purchases from Iran, after the United States sanctioned two independent refiners in the past two months, sources with knowledge of the issue have told Reuters. Chinese crude oil imports topped 12 million barrels per day (bpd) in March, the highest volume since August 2023, as flows of Iranian and Russian crude rebounded from the lows seen early this year with the U.S. sanctions. However, in March and April, the U.S.…

China’s rapid embrace of renewable energy is bad news for natural gas producers like Russia, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan. But it might have decent ramifications for Uzbekistan’s clean energy agenda. China controls over 70 percent of global manufacturing capacity in every major category of clean energy production except hydrogen electrolyzers, according to a recently published research report produced by BloombergNEF, titled Energy Transition Supply Chains 2025. The report finds that “mainland China also dominates…

1m ago 11:09am CST US-UK Trade Deal Overview President Trump announced a landmark US-UK trade deal, calling it a "breakthrough" with one of America’s "most cherished allies." The agreement is set to drive billions of dollars in export opportunities for both nations. Key Details: The US will eliminate its 25% tariffs on UK steel and aluminum imports, easing costs for British manufacturers. Tariffs on up to 100,000 UK cars exported to the US will be reduced from 27.5% to 10%, boosting the UK automotive sector. The deal covers agricultural products…

Kazakhstan doesn’t have any plans to cut its crude and condensate production in May, its energy ministry said on Thursday, as the OPEC+ producer continues to give the group headaches with continuously busting its quota in the deal. Kazakhstan, one of the biggest overproducers under the agreement alongside OPEC’s second-largest producer, Iraq, plans to keep its crude oil and condensate production levels in May the same as in April and slightly higher than in March, Kazakhstan’s energy ministry told Bloomberg via email. The second…

Russia is in an active stage of talks with China over the Power of Siberia 2 gas pipeline to bring more Russian gas to China, Russia’s Energy Minister Sergei Tsivilev said while Chinese President Xi Jinping is visiting Moscow. Despite the touted “active” talks, it is unlikely that Russia and China will sign an agreement on the proposed gas pipeline before May 9, Russian news agency TASS quoted Tsivilev as telling reporters. Xi flew to Moscow on Wednesday, will hold talks with Vladimir Putin on Thursday, and will attend a planned…

Russia is in an active stage of talks with China over the Power of Siberia 2 gas pipeline to bring more Russian gas to China, Russia’s Energy Minister Sergei Tsivilev said while Chinese President Xi Jinping is visiting Moscow. Despite the touted “active” talks, it is unlikely that Russia and China will sign an agreement on the proposed gas pipeline before May 9, Russian news agency TASS quoted Tsivilev as telling reporters. Xi flew to Moscow on Wednesday, will hold talks with Vladimir Putin on Thursday, and will attend a planned…

Russia is in an active stage of talks with China over the Power of Siberia 2 gas pipeline to bring more Russian gas to China, Russia’s Energy Minister Sergei Tsivilev said while Chinese President Xi Jinping is visiting Moscow. Despite the touted “active” talks, it is unlikely that Russia and China will sign an agreement on the proposed gas pipeline before May 9, Russian news agency TASS quoted Tsivilev as telling reporters. Xi flew to Moscow on Wednesday, will hold talks with Vladimir Putin on Thursday, and will attend a planned…

The European Union member states are looking to include energy laws and regulations in wider efforts to cut bureaucracy aimed at boosting the bloc’s competitiveness, a draft document seen by Reuters showed on Thursday. Earlier this year, the European Commission proposed measures to cut red tape and simplify legislation for EU businesses and citizens. The plans to simplify rules “is a major step forward in creating a more favourable business environment to help EU companies grow, innovate, and create quality jobs,” the Commission…

Germany’s wind and solar power output has slumped to the lowest in ten years since the start of the year, at just 80 TWh over the first four months of 2025, data from climate think tank Ember has shown. As a result, Europe’s biggest economy has ramped up gas and coal generation by 10% from a year ago, with the share of hydrocarbons in its energy mix rising to the highest in seven years. The main reason for the drop in wind and solar generation was low wind speed, which hit total wind power output hard: generation was down 31% on the…

Oil prices rose by more than 1% early on Thursday as the market expects a U.S.-UK trade deal announcement later today and the start of U.S.-China ice-breaker talks later this week. As of 8:35 a.m. EDT on Thursday, the U.S. benchmark, WTI Crude, was up by 1.89% at $59.15. The international benchmark, Brent Crude, was trading 1.62% higher at $62.12 per barrel. Oil and equity markets were buoyed on Thursday by the announcement from U.S. President Donald Trump that the United States would sign the first post-tariff trade deal with the United Kingdom.…

Nigeria’s government has set a new, significantly higher, production target for the national oil company, aiming for 2.5 million barrels daily by the end of this year. “When the new NNPC management visited me, I increased their oil production target to 2.5 million bpd from the initial two million barrels given to them by the President,” Nigeria’s petroleum resources minister, Heineken Lokpobiri told the Sun on the sidelines of the Oil Technology Conference Africa Energy Forum. Lokpobiri believes the new target would be easy…

According to StanChart, the path of least resistance for oil prices is lower, with prices likely to remain low in the coming months before beginning a gradual recovery due to a sharp fall in U.S. oil output. The eight OPEC+ countries that provided additional voluntary output cuts in 2023 met again on Saturday, with the May meeting ending with a resolution similar to the April meeting. Once again, OPEC+ agreed to accelerate the pace of unwinding of production cuts, with output targets for June (excluding compensation cuts) increased by 411,000 …

Alberta could vote next year on whether to separate from Canada if a citizen-led petition gathers the requisite number of signatures requesting such a question to be put to a referendum. That’s what Danielle Smith, the Premier of the Alberta province, which is the heart of Canada’s oil industry, said this week, just after the Liberals led by Mark Carney won the federal election and ahead of Carney’s meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in the White House. Smith stressed that the provincial government itself would not be seeking…