Electrification will be the major focus of the upcoming COP31 United Nations climate conference, to be held in Antalya, Türkiye, from November 9 to 20, 2026. The host country will invite the attending nations to sign onto a voluntary pledge to reach 35 percent electrification on a global level by 2035. Just a year ago, this target may have seemed overly ambitious, but now, experts say that a number of factors, including volatile oil and gas markets stemming from the war in Iran, paired with enormous advances in clean energy technologies, have…

LNG spot market prices in Asia have tripled since the start of the year. Asia and Europe are locked in a race for a limited number of cargoes. The U.S. is exporting record volumes of the fuel. And QatarEnergy just extended a force majeure on its own LNG exports. The world is short on gas—and will remain so for a while. The Japan-Korea Marker, the Asian LNG benchmark, topped $31 per million British thermal units this month. In fact, the benchmark briefly rose above $33 per mmBtu, compared with a little over $9 per mmBtu in January this year.…

The United Arab Emirates currently operates one crude export pipeline that bypasses the Strait of Hormuz and announced earlier this year that it was building a second. A third pipeline is reportedly being planned to further expand crude capacity and reroute energy flows around Hormuz, reducing exposure to Iranian disruption and weakening Tehran's leverage over the critical maritime chokepoint. Bloomberg reported Wednesday morning that Abu Dhabi’s state-owned energy giant, Abu Dhabi National Oil Co., is weighing plans for a third pipeline…

The European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts shows signs of an early disruption of the Arctic polar vortex that could send cold air into Northwest Europe as the energy-stricken continent faces a very thin supply buffer before the Northern Hemisphere winter gathers pace. We are officially in uncharted territory. The Polar Vortex is currently the weakest it’s ever been for the date and is headed for the crucial 0 line over the next day or so. If it gets to a value of 0 or lower, it will officially be the earliest Sudden Stratospheric…

Brent fell $8.94, or 8.6%, to $94.66 per barrel at 1:06 p.m. ET on Wednesday, after touching its lowest level since September 4, with traders pricing an end to the Iran war after the White House tied Tuesday’s midterm losses to the conflict. WTI dropped $8.01, or 8.3%, to $88.08. Brent traded near $118 on Friday. Trump told Fox News on Tuesday night that “I think it’s the gasoline price” when explaining the Republican defeat. Vice President JD Vance wrote on X that the war was the reason for the losses, and that “any…

Brent fell $8.94, or 8.6%, to $94.66 per barrel at 1:06 p.m. ET on Wednesday, after touching its lowest level since September 4, with traders pricing an end to the Iran war after the White House tied Tuesday’s midterm losses to the conflict. WTI dropped $8.01, or 8.3%, to $88.08. Brent traded near $118 on Friday. Trump told Fox News on Tuesday night that “I think it’s the gasoline price” when explaining the Republican defeat. Vice President JD Vance wrote on X that the war was the reason for the losses, and that “any…

Construction of the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway is steadily advancing, with work underway on 28 of the 29 planned tunnels and 47 of 50 bridges along the route’s roughly 305-kilometer Kyrgyz section, according to Kyrgyz Railways, a partner in the project. About 22 percent of total construction work is expected to be completed by the end of 2026, with tunnel excavation currently 21.5 percent complete, earthworks 67 percent complete and bridge pile foundations 95 percent complete, the project’s deputy director general said. The…

Equinor halted output at its Visund oil and gas platform in the Norwegian North Sea on Wednesday after a fire in an electrical switchboard room, taking all 13.2 million cubic meters per day of the field’s gas export capacity off the market from Thursday. The fire broke out shortly before 11 a.m. local time, NRK reported. Equinor spokesperson Ellen Maria Skjelsbæk told the broadcaster that crews first reported smoke and then found flames in the switchboard room, which houses the panels that control and distribute power on the platform.…

Equinor halted output at its Visund oil and gas platform in the Norwegian North Sea on Wednesday after a fire in an electrical switchboard room, taking all 13.2 million cubic meters per day of the field’s gas export capacity off the market from Thursday. The fire broke out shortly before 11 a.m. local time, NRK reported. Equinor spokesperson Ellen Maria Skjelsbæk told the broadcaster that crews first reported smoke and then found flames in the switchboard room, which houses the panels that control and distribute power on the platform.…

Equinor halted output at its Visund oil and gas platform in the Norwegian North Sea on Wednesday after a fire in an electrical switchboard room, taking all 13.2 million cubic meters per day of the field’s gas export capacity off the market from Thursday. The fire broke out shortly before 11 a.m. local time, NRK reported. Equinor spokesperson Ellen Maria Skjelsbæk told the broadcaster that crews first reported smoke and then found flames in the switchboard room, which houses the panels that control and distribute power on the platform.…

New Jersey Democratic Governor Mikie Sherrill warned port and terminal operators in the state against "purchasing or unloading the illegal Russian fuel currently bound for the east coast of the United States."  Sherrill's move threatens to complicate President Trump's efforts to bring Russian diesel into US markets to ease high industrial fuel prices amid a severe global refining squeeze fueled by Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian refineries and disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz. In a Monday letter, Sherrill urged operators to turn away…

Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest person whose Dangote Group operates the biggest refinery on the continent, on Wednesday broke ground for a planned fuel storage site in Namibia, which will serve as a fuel distribution hub in southern Africa. “We want to heavily invest so that most of the landlocked countries will be able to access petroleum products at a cheaper price,” Dangote said at a groundbreaking event on Wednesday. The project, expected to cost $2.5 billion, includes a fuel depot outside the main port of Walvis Bay in Namibia…

Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest person whose Dangote Group operates the biggest refinery on the continent, on Wednesday broke ground for a planned fuel storage site in Namibia, which will serve as a fuel distribution hub in southern Africa. “We want to heavily invest so that most of the landlocked countries will be able to access petroleum products at a cheaper price,” Dangote said at a groundbreaking event on Wednesday. The project, expected to cost $2.5 billion, includes a fuel depot outside the main port of Walvis Bay in Namibia…

Crude oil inventories in the United States saw a decrease of 900,000 barrels during the week ending October 30, according to new data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released on Wednesday. The decrease brings commercial stockpiles to 409.8 million barrels, according to government data, which is now 4% below the five-year average for this time of year. Total commercial petroleum inventories slipped by 8.2 million barrels during the reporting period. The EIA’s data release follows API’s figures that were released…

Oil traders are pricing a U.S.-Iran settlement and discounting the threats around it. As of 9:40 a.m. ET on Wednesday, Brent had fallen $3.04, or 2.9%, to $100.60 per barrel, its third straight loss, and WTI had dropped $2.86, or 3%, to $93.23. Murban slipped $1.27 to $100.90. Both crude benchmarks traded higher early before reversing in a volatile session. President Trump told the Financial Times that Washington has no immediate plans to strike Iran. “We seem to be getting everything we want,” he said. Vice President JD Vance said…

Oil traders are pricing a U.S.-Iran settlement and discounting the threats around it. As of 9:40 a.m. ET on Wednesday, Brent had fallen $3.04, or 2.9%, to $100.60 per barrel, its third straight loss, and WTI had dropped $2.86, or 3%, to $93.23. Murban slipped $1.27 to $100.90. Both crude benchmarks traded higher early before reversing in a volatile session. President Trump told the Financial Times that Washington has no immediate plans to strike Iran. “We seem to be getting everything we want,” he said. Vice President JD Vance said…

US first lady Melania Trump will host Russian and Ukrainian representatives at the White House on November 5, with both sides confirming their participation in a meeting focused on a localized cease-fire in Ukraine's southern Kherson region, as a new round of US-mediated peace talks is set to take place next week. The meeting follows a six-day cease-fire in and around the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky, which Melania Trump said she helped broker to allow humanitarian aid deliveries and the evacuation of vulnerable civilians. According to sources…

Spanish energy firm Moeve has agreed to sell its upstream oil and gas assets in Algeria to units of Indonesia’s state energy firm Pertamina in a deal that sees Moeve, majority owned by Abu Dhabi’s fund Mubadala, exiting the upstream business globally.   Moeve, which rebranded from Cepsa in 2024 “to drive the energy transition towards a more sustainable future,” is nearly 62% owned by Mubadala, the sovereign investment company of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Moeve is selling its entire interests in the non-operated…

Spanish energy firm Moeve has agreed to sell its upstream oil and gas assets in Algeria to units of Indonesia’s state energy firm Pertamina in a deal that sees Moeve, majority owned by Abu Dhabi’s fund Mubadala, exiting the upstream business globally.   Moeve, which rebranded from Cepsa in 2024 “to drive the energy transition towards a more sustainable future,” is nearly 62% owned by Mubadala, the sovereign investment company of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Moeve is selling its entire interests in the non-operated…

Spanish energy firm Moeve has agreed to sell its upstream oil and gas assets in Algeria to units of Indonesia’s state energy firm Pertamina in a deal that sees Moeve, majority owned by Abu Dhabi’s fund Mubadala, exiting the upstream business globally.   Moeve, which rebranded from Cepsa in 2024 “to drive the energy transition towards a more sustainable future,” is nearly 62% owned by Mubadala, the sovereign investment company of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Moeve is selling its entire interests in the non-operated…