Back on June 4, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Russian leader Vladimir Putin were all smiles amid the ceremonial groundbreaking for the construction of Uzbekistan’s first cluster of nuclear reactors, to be built by Russia’s nuclear entity Rosatom. “I am confident that you have chosen the best option for Uzbekistan out of all those offered,” Putin told Mirziyoyev at the time. Just three months later, it is clear that Mirziyoyev is having second thoughts about his selection of Rosatom. On September 2, his presidential…

The global power of most Middle Eastern countries remains dependent on their oil and/or gas output, so it is little wonder they try to maximise this, either by pushing production higher or by pretending it is higher, or by forecasting that it will be higher at some point soon. Iraq had historically fallen into the last of these categories -- having periodically promised large increases in oil production that never materialised. Saudi Arabia, the Middle East’s top oil producer, meanwhile, has fallen into the first category -- alluding to oil…

The prices of crudes from Canada, South America, and Africa have jumped in recent weeks as Chinese oil import demand is rising from a decade-low, benchmark prices rally, and Middle East supply remains disrupted. The Djeno crude from Congo, one of the smaller producers in OPEC, is being offered at a premium of $20 per barrel over ICE Brent, anonymous traders told Bloomberg on Monday. That's up from a $15 a barrel premium two weeks ago, according to the traders. The prices of crudes from Canada, Brazil, and Argentina are also rising amid increased…

The prices of crudes from Canada, South America, and Africa have jumped in recent weeks as Chinese oil import demand is rising from a decade-low, benchmark prices rally, and Middle East supply remains disrupted. The Djeno crude from Congo, one of the smaller producers in OPEC, is being offered at a premium of $20 per barrel over ICE Brent, anonymous traders told Bloomberg on Monday. That's up from a $15 a barrel premium two weeks ago, according to the traders. The prices of crudes from Canada, Brazil, and Argentina are also rising amid increased…

The prices of crudes from Canada, South America, and Africa have jumped in recent weeks as Chinese oil import demand is rising from a decade-low, benchmark prices rally, and Middle East supply remains disrupted. The Djeno crude from Congo, one of the smaller producers in OPEC, is being offered at a premium of $20 per barrel over ICE Brent, anonymous traders told Bloomberg on Monday. That's up from a $15 a barrel premium two weeks ago, according to the traders. The prices of crudes from Canada, Brazil, and Argentina are also rising amid increased…

The prices of crudes from Canada, South America, and Africa have jumped in recent weeks as Chinese oil import demand is rising from a decade-low, benchmark prices rally, and Middle East supply remains disrupted. The Djeno crude from Congo, one of the smaller producers in OPEC, is being offered at a premium of $20 per barrel over ICE Brent, anonymous traders told Bloomberg on Monday. That's up from a $15 a barrel premium two weeks ago, according to the traders. The prices of crudes from Canada, Brazil, and Argentina are also rising amid increased…

The prices of crudes from Canada, South America, and Africa have jumped in recent weeks as Chinese oil import demand is rising from a decade-low, benchmark prices rally, and Middle East supply remains disrupted. The Djeno crude from Congo, one of the smaller producers in OPEC, is being offered at a premium of $20 per barrel over ICE Brent, anonymous traders told Bloomberg on Monday. That's up from a $15 a barrel premium two weeks ago, according to the traders. The prices of crudes from Canada, Brazil, and Argentina are also rising amid increased…

The Trump administration has revived its diplomatic drive to end Russia’s war in Ukraine, as US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner traveled from Moscow to Kyiv in a high-profile effort to lay the groundwork for another round of negotiations. But after separate meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the central question remains unanswered: Has Moscow changed its position enough to make a settlement possible? Three former US ambassadors to Ukraine interviewed by RFE/RL on September 6…

The renewed rally in crude oil and LNG prices and the higher freight costs are pressuring the marketing margins of India’s oil and gas sector, which has to contend with the fallout of the Iran war on global oil and LNG trade flows. Increased refining margins offset some of the downward pressure, but gasoline and diesel marketing margins remain negative, while high LNG prices in Asia would squeeze margins in the gas sector and likely lead to softer September imports of LNG, India-based brokerage Equirus said a note carried by local media.…

The renewed rally in crude oil and LNG prices and the higher freight costs are pressuring the marketing margins of India’s oil and gas sector, which has to contend with the fallout of the Iran war on global oil and LNG trade flows. Increased refining margins offset some of the downward pressure, but gasoline and diesel marketing margins remain negative, while high LNG prices in Asia would squeeze margins in the gas sector and likely lead to softer September imports of LNG, India-based brokerage Equirus said a note carried by local media.…

The renewed rally in crude oil and LNG prices and the higher freight costs are pressuring the marketing margins of India’s oil and gas sector, which has to contend with the fallout of the Iran war on global oil and LNG trade flows. Increased refining margins offset some of the downward pressure, but gasoline and diesel marketing margins remain negative, while high LNG prices in Asia would squeeze margins in the gas sector and likely lead to softer September imports of LNG, India-based brokerage Equirus said a note carried by local media.…

Saudi Aramco's 400,000-barrel-per-day Jizan refinery was hit in a new attack Monday, threatening a major Red Sea refining hub while Saudi Arabia is moving more oil west to avoid the Strait of Hormuz. The Financial Times reported that the facilities in southwestern Saudi Arabia were hit Monday, citing two people with knowledge of the incident. One described the strike as similar in scale to an attack last month that temporarily disrupted operations. Aramco has not yet commented on the latest damage, and no group has been confirmed as responsible.…

Supply of fuel oil for the shipping industry is getting squeezed by the war-driven tightness in diesel fuel, as refiners prioritize the latter over the former, Reuters has reported, with Asia set to suffer the most severe blow. The shortage is seen at 218,000 barrels daily in the current quarter, according to Energy Aspects, as quoted by Reuters, which would be the first quarter of a shipping fuel shortage since 2025. At that time, the shortage was much smaller, at just 6,000 barrels daily. “Due to the protracted supply disruption in the…

Supply of fuel oil for the shipping industry is getting squeezed by the war-driven tightness in diesel fuel, as refiners prioritize the latter over the former, Reuters has reported, with Asia set to suffer the most severe blow. The shortage is seen at 218,000 barrels daily in the current quarter, according to Energy Aspects, as quoted by Reuters, which would be the first quarter of a shipping fuel shortage since 2025. At that time, the shortage was much smaller, at just 6,000 barrels daily. “Due to the protracted supply disruption in the…

Oil prices edged higher in early Asian trade on Monday following another weekend of escalation in the U.S.-Iran war.  At the time of writing, WTI was trading at $92.14 per barrel, up 0.72% on the session, while Brent had risen 0.63% to trade at $96.89. On Saturday, U.S. Central Command (Centcom) reported that it had struck three Iranian oil tankers in response to the IRGC targeting two U.S. warships with ballistic missiles. The three tankers hit were M/T Downy, M/T Stark 1, and M/T Kylo, and were struck near Kharg Island, Jask, and in the…

Russia’s Northern Sea Route (NSR) is about to become a game-changer for Eurasian energy trade, and Europe’s January 2027 ban on Russian LNG is pushing Moscow to bring it to life sooner than planned. LNG will remain its foundation, while crude traffic and Rosneft’s vast Vostok Oil project could provide far greater scale. For Russia, the prize is a shorter route to Asian customers that avoids foreign-controlled chokepoints and increases Moscow’s command over export infrastructure. However, the route’s seasonal availability…

An Oakland Institute analysis challenges claims that a large increase in mining is an unavoidable cost of replacing fossil fuels. Using International Energy Agency (IEA) data, Oakland calculated that wind, solar, renewable-power networks, grid batteries and electric vehicles accounted for 26% of combined demand for copper, lithium, nickel, cobalt, graphite and magnet rare earths in 2024. It assigned the remaining 74% to construction, conventional transport, industrial machinery, defense, electronics and other uses. The calculation describes consumption…

The biggest oil companies in the United States are playing hardball in unionized labor negotiations in a bid to get more concessions from workers’ unions in the new contracts. Over the past few years, some of the top U.S. refining companies have resorted to lockouts to ensure most of the company management’s proposals in new labor contracts are accepted. The trend began earlier this decade with Exxon locking out in 2021 as many as 650 workers out of the Beaumont refinery for 10 months. This was the longest labor dispute at a U.S. refinery…

While electric car and truck sales have grown more slowly than expected in recent years, prompting governments to rethink clean fuel targets and automakers to slow the pace of EV production, electric motorcycles are becoming increasingly popular in certain parts of the world. Two-wheel vehicles have long been popular in busy cities and low-income countries, and now, largely due to rising fuel prices, many are investing in electric two-wheelers. The United States-Israeli attacks on Iran in February, which led to the ongoing Iran War and spurred…

A regime change in Colombia’s federal government is poised to usher in an oil and gas renaissance in the South American nation. After a four-year ban on oil and gas exploration under the previous leftist president Gustavo Petro, a new right-wing administration is eager to open the country’s oil and gas reserves up to foreign investors. But while mining and oil companies are ready to pour billions of dollars into the sector, Colombia’s political systems might not actually be ready for the flood. It’s anticipated that fossil…