News
Colombia’s state-controlled oil giant Ecopetrol may increase spending and boost output if elevated oil prices persist amid the escalating Middle East conflict, the company’s chief executive said Thursday. Benchmark Brent crude has surged to its highest level in more than a year following U.S.-Israel strikes on Iran and disruptions to exports from the Persian Gulf. Brent climbed to more than $85 per barrel this week, up from roughly $70 before the conflict erupted on February 28. Ecopetrol CEO Ricardo Roa told analysts during the company’s…
Military strikes in the Middle East and the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz have triggered one of the sharpest moves in European gas markets over the past year, with the Title Transfer Facility (TTF) benchmark surging on disrupted liquefied natural gas (LNG) flows. The shock is transmitting directly into European power markets, with price reactions varying according to national gas exposure. Beyond the immediate volatility, the market reaction underscores the structural linkage between global LNG supply, European electricity pricing and…
The very recent signing of two sets of major oil deals by U.S. oil giant Chevron following the forced withdrawal of Russian firms from key energy projects in Iraq is a key turning point in the West’s resurgence in the Middle East, a senior U.S. Treasury source told OilPrice.com last week. “Iraq is the heartland of the Middle East, a major Iranian ally, vital to Russian and Chinese interests, and it’s allowing a major U.S. force into the centre of its economy,” he underlined. So, what does this mean for Iraq’s energy…
Last month’s announcement that Devon Energy and Coterra Energy are merging to create a $58-billion giant is the latest mega-deal in the U.S. shale patch, signaling smaller public companies are seeking multi-basin, multi-year increases in drilling opportunities. In early February, Devon Energy and Coterra Energy announced a definitive agreement to merge and create a premier shale operator in an all-stock transaction, implying a combined enterprise value of about $58 billion. The deal creates a company with a significantly increased position…
When it comes to the dangers of artificial intelligence (AI) and now artificial superintelligence (ASI) (sometimes called artificial general intelligence), I feel as if we've been transported onto the set of the 1983 film "WarGames." In the film teenage hacker David Lightman stumbles onto the military's most sensitive war scenario planning computer while believing he has simply found a soon-to-be-released game called "Global Thermonuclear War" on the server of a computer game company. Lightman activates the game which ultimately makes personnel…
