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This week, Tesla North America and Elon Musk announced that the largest and most advanced lithium refinery in the United States is now operational. The Tesla Lithium Refinery just outside of Corpus Christi, Texas, is another step toward the U.S. goal of having domestic refined lithium resources to counter China’s market dominance. “Our Lithium Refinery ushers in energy independence for North America,” Tesla North America said in the caption of a video announcing that the plant is operational, just two years after breaking ground.…
Crude oil prices are in retreat after rising on the possibility of U.S. strikes on Iran. Before the retreat, however, Brent crude and WTI had jumped to the highest in months, countering bearish forecasts for the year—and tearing traders between geopolitics and fundamentals. In fundamentals, the majority of observers and forecasters are unanimous that the supply of crude oil is substantially higher than demand. In fact, Goldman Sachs recently revised its price predictions for 2026, saying it now expected Brent crude to go even lower after…
In the second installment of a three-part series focused on South American pipeline infrastructure, we head to Brazil. The country faces the challenge of reinforcing its pipeline network to absorb growing pre-salt gas while managing declining imports from Bolivia. Although higher volumes of Argentine gas are expected to reach Brazil via Bolivia over the medium to long term, network upgrades will be required to ensure security of supply during the transition. TAG is the gas transmission operator responsible for the main transport corridor connecting…
Russia’s oil-and-gas budget suffered a painful blow in 2025. Revenues from the sector fell 24% to 8.48 trillion roubles, the weakest showing since 2020. That matters because oil and gas still bankroll roughly a quarter of the federal budget, and that budget is being chewed up by defense and security spending at a pace hard to ignore. This is not because Russia pumped less crude. Oil prices fell more than 18% last year. That is the sharpest annual drop since the pandemic crash. On top of that, the rouble strengthened—bad timing. When…
At the start of the year, sentiment in the oil market was overwhelmingly and deeply bearish. Most forecasts pointed to a glut, and a sizable one at that. Then the U.S. struck Venezuela, took its acting president to stand trial in the U.S., and threatened Iran, Mexico, and Colombia that they were next. Protests broke out in Iran. Saudi Arabia and the UAE took different sides in Yemen. Brent crude is already over $65 per barrel. Geopolitics has always been a wild card for the oil market. There is always a potential for supply disruption in some large…
