Following a big push from the government and electric vehicle (EV) producers, the U.K. is expected to undergo a significant shift away from internal combustion (ICE) vehicles in favour of EVs in the coming years. This news comes despite lower-than-expected EV sales in the U.S. and Europe this year, which drove many automakers to rein in their production strategies. Auto Trader, the U.K.’s biggest digital automotive platform, forecasts a ‘seismic shift’ to EVs in Britain in the coming years. According to a recent report from Auto…

The supermajors are moving into power generation, tempted by forecasts of a looming surge in demand. Yet there is a twist: the temptation is natural gas generation. Wind and solar—typically described as green or clean power—are turning into a fiasco for Big Oil. Chevron and Exxon both recently said they were planning to venture into the exciting—and quite profitable—field of electricity generation. Speaking at a Reuters event in New York, Chevron’s head of the New Energies division said that it has been in talks for…

Coal ash is currently a hot topic in United States politics. Just yesterday, the Supreme Court ruled to allow the Biden administration to move forward with a plan to address toxic coal ash, in the latest update in a drawn-out legal battle over monitoring and remediation of the toxic substance. But while coal ash is a noted hazard to public health and the environment, it could also be a key new resource for the clean energy transition. Millions of tons of coal ash, a byproduct of burning the world’s dirtiest fossil fuel, are currently sitting…

Europe is starting to reach its limit when it comes to wind power. Countries like Denmark and Sweden, once leaders in expanding offshore wind capacity, are now hitting obstacles as power prices and incentives fall too low to support new projects, according to Bloomberg. A recent Danish auction for offshore wind saw no bids, highlighting the issue. This slowdown in wind development risks prolonging reliance on fossil fuels, as rising costs challenge the sector's earlier success in driving down prices. Denmark, which generated a world-leading 58%…

Since 2022, several countries worldwide have announced plans to expand their natural gas production capacity over the next decade, with multiple new large-scale projects coming online over the last three years. This was largely driven by the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and subsequent sanctions on Russian energy, which led to a global shortage of natural gas. As countries across Europe and North America hurriedly sought out alternative supplies of the fuel, several governments decided to back new gas expansion plans to ensure the future of…

When he launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin apparently believed Russian forces would topple the government within weeks and restore Moscow's dominance over the country after 30 years of independence. Putin was mistaken, and the war he started rages on nearly three years later. It's hard to imagine Putin didn't mull over his miscalculation when militant-led opposition forces seized Damascus and swept Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from power less than two weeks after launching an offensive. The…

Enhanced Geothermal Systems, or EGS, are quietly transforming how we think about renewable energy, turning one of the Earth’s most underutilized resources—its internal heat—into a reliable and sustainable power source. The DOE Department of Energy (DOE) has estimated that there is approximately 100,000 megawatts of clean, baseload power possible through EGS technology in the United States The beauty of this technology, which extracts thermal energy from deep beneath the surface, is that it is widely applicable, and may be of particular…

Via Metal Miner  The Construction MMI (Monthly Metals Index) held its sideways trend, dropping by a slight 1.09%. Despite a torrent of construction news, the index didn’t budge much month-over-month and had a minimal reaction to recent interest rate drops. The Fed will likely need to drop interest rates more aggressively for the construction index to display any type of significant reaction to this macroeconomic price driver. Despite the lackluster reaction to The Fed’s more recent, dovish stance, the construction market witnessed…

General Motors is winding down its Cruise robotaxi division, according to a new report from Bloomberg.  GM's exit from the market leaves Google's Waymo and Tesla as the two main names in autonomous driving. The division "proved costly and full of reputational pitfalls" for General Motors, the report said. GM and Cruise will merge technical teams to focus on autonomous tech for future GM vehicles, halting robotaxi development due to high costs and stiff competition, the company announced Tuesday. This marks a significant shift after Cruise…

China, the world’s heavyweight oil consumer, has officially hit its peak. According to CNPC’s Economics & Technology Research Institute, the country’s refined oil consumption maxed out in 2023 at 399 million metric tons (roughly 8 million barrels per day) and is set to decline by 1.3% in 2024. For an economy that’s been a relentless driver of global oil demand for decades, this news is striking. As for the reasons behind the shift, they can be chalked up in part to electric vehicles, which are taking over Chinese roads.…

China, the world’s heavyweight oil consumer, has officially hit its peak. According to CNPC’s Economics & Technology Research Institute, the country’s refined oil consumption maxed out in 2023 at 399 million metric tons (roughly 8 million barrels per day) and is set to decline by 1.3% in 2024. For an economy that’s been a relentless driver of global oil demand for decades, this news is striking. As for the reasons behind the shift, they can be chalked up in part to electric vehicles, which are taking over Chinese roads.…

The total number of active drilling rigs for oil and gas in the United States stayed the same this week, according to new data that Baker Hughes published on Friday, after rising in the week prior. The total rig count remained flat at 589 total rigs, according to Baker Hughes, down 34 from this same time last year. The number of oil rigs stayed the same at 482—down by 19 compared to this time last year. The number of gas rigs rose by one rig, landing at 103, a loss of 16 active gas rigs from this time last year. Miscellaneous rigs fell by…

Hungary and Bulgaria are in a bind. With U.S. sanctions hitting Gazprombank—the go-to middleman for Russian gas payments—the two are scrambling to figure out how to keep the gas moving without breaking the rules. Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto claims they have cracked the code with a “legal-financial solution.” Meanwhile, Bulgaria is keeping its cards close to the vest, simply saying they’ve discussed an “option” that could work for everyone. For Hungary, Russian gas is a lifeline they’re…

Hungary and Bulgaria are in a bind. With U.S. sanctions hitting Gazprombank—the go-to middleman for Russian gas payments—the two are scrambling to figure out how to keep the gas moving without breaking the rules. Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto claims they have cracked the code with a “legal-financial solution.” Meanwhile, Bulgaria is keeping its cards close to the vest, simply saying they’ve discussed an “option” that could work for everyone. For Hungary, Russian gas is a lifeline they’re…

Hungary and Bulgaria are in a bind. With U.S. sanctions hitting Gazprombank—the go-to middleman for Russian gas payments—the two are scrambling to figure out how to keep the gas moving without breaking the rules. Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto claims they have cracked the code with a “legal-financial solution.” Meanwhile, Bulgaria is keeping its cards close to the vest, simply saying they’ve discussed an “option” that could work for everyone. For Hungary, Russian gas is a lifeline they’re…

The energy sector has endured yet another lackluster year, with the S&P 500 Energy Sector having returned 7.1% in the year-to-date, the fourth lowest among the 11 market sectors in the S&P 500. Both Oil & Gas as well as renewable energy stocks have underperformed, with the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSEARCA:XLE), the famous oil and gas benchmark, having gained 7.3% YTD compared to -22.6% return by the iShares Global Clean Energy ETF (NASDAQ:ICLN) and 27.6% by the S&P 500. Unfortunately, both fossil fuel and clean energy sectors…

Trafigura saw its net profit for the financial year 2023/2024 ended on September 30 plunge by 62% as the commodity trading giant recorded a loss of $1.1 billion related to serious misconduct by individuals in its Mongolian oil business. Trafigura booked a net profit of $2.8 billion for FY2024, down from a $7.3 billion profit in FY2023 and $6.8 billion for FY 2022, the oil and metals trading house said on Friday. The underlying performance was strong, with strong contributions from all three core businesses – Oil and Petroleum Products; Metals,…

Even though Russia’s grand military plans are increasingly failing, as seen in Syria and the developments in Ukraine, leaving Putin’s grand strategy in disarray, Western critical infrastructure is currently under an onslaught of Russian hackers. A major report by Cyble Research, dated December 6, indicated that Russian hackers are intensifying their attacks on critical infrastructure, evolving from Distributed-Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks and website defacement to tampering with operational technology (OT) controls on critical systems.…

Moldova on Friday declared a nationwide state of emergency for 60 days, expecting Russian pipeline gas supply to cease from January 1, 2025. The Parliament of the country, which currently receives Russian gas via Ukraine, approved overnight a proposal from Prime Minister Dorin Recean to declare a state of emergency, which begins on December 16. Moldova has been trying to fend off Russian influence in the breakaway Transdniestria region, a narrow strip of land between the Dniester River and the Ukrainian border, which isn’t recognized by the…

Oil prices are climbing once again as geopolitical risk rises and the threat of new U.S. sanctions on Russia's shadow fleet threatens supply.Oil prices have finally outgrown the pains of the OPEC+ meeting, with the potential threat of sanctions now front and center this week. New G7 sanctions on Russia’s shadow fleet, Chinese concerns about buying Iranian crude with Trump coming into office, and looming nuclear sanctions on Tehran have added some geopolitical risk premium to oil, lifting Brent back to $74 per barrel, posting the first weekly…