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Lithium-ion batteries power the world. You probably have at least one – but probably two or three – within reach right this very moment. Lithium-ion batteries power a whopping 70 percent of all rechargeable devices, ranging in size and scope from electric vehicles to smartphones to utility-scale energy storage. But while the technology has become nearly ubiquitous in our daily lives, there is still a lot that we still don’t understand about the physical and chemical processes that power lithium-ion batteries. Until now, many aspects…
Earlier this month, a top Shell executive warned that the Trump administration’s animosity towards offshore wind risks complicating investment decisions for oil and gas as well. Uncertainty was the word Collette Hirstius used. Uncertainty has become the dominant sentiment in energy circles—and it’s not just because of Trump. Speaking to the Financial Times, Shell’s Hirstius said that “I think uncertainty in the regulatory environment is very damaging. However far the pendulum swings one way, it’s likely that…
ExxonMobil has restarted the gasoline-producing fluid catalytic cracking unit (FCCU) at its massive Beaumont, Texas, refinery, two days after an unexpected shutdown temporarily disrupted operations, according to sources familiar with the plant. The 120,000-barrel-per-day FCCU went offline Tuesday night following a malfunction, prompting flaring visible across the refinery complex. The company notified the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality that flaring would continue for roughly 24 hours. Exxon confirmed neither the cause nor the duration…
Oil prices edged higher over the past week, after a bullish OPEC+ move while expanding strategic oil stocks in China have continued removing extra barrels from global markets, even though Thursday saw some paring of those gains on the Israel-Hamas ceasefire talks. Previously, there was speculation that OPEC+ was considering accelerating the return of the April 2023 tranche of voluntary output cuts from 137 thousand barrels per day (kb/d), which would result in a 12-month process, to 500kb/d, which would remove the remaining tranche in just…
We are at a time when there seems to be far more conflict than in the past. At least part of the problem is that slowing growth in the world economy is making it more difficult to repay debt with interest, especially for governments. A related issue is that government promises for pensions and healthcare costs are becoming more difficult to pay. Donald Trump is trying to make numerous changes that are distasteful both to other countries and to many people living within the US. What is going wrong with the economy? In my view, major cracks are developing…
Ecuador’s oil industry is caught in a death spiral. Decades of corruption, dwindling private investment, corroded infrastructure and environmental disasters are all weighing on production and reserves growth. Environmentally damaging oil spills are a common occurrence, with evidence suggesting that the national government in Quito is failing to prevent these harmful events. President Daniel Noboa’s commitment to reviving the economically crucial oil industry risks serious pollution, especially with cocaine related violence distracting…
The Dallas Federal Reserve’s latest Energy Survey, which tracks activity across Texas, northern Louisiana, and southern New Mexico, shows a clear cooling in the U.S. oil sector. After years of relentless growth driven by the shale boom, responses this quarter point to a sector that is slowing down and recalibrating in the face of new pressures. For the second consecutive quarter, drilling and completion activity declined. Operators are scaling back exploration budgets, and the aggressive growth that defined shale’s early years has given…
Markets carried their momentum into the third quarter of 2025, even as political uncertainty and softer labor data kept investors cautious. The S&P 500 advanced 7.8% in Q3, a solid showing that reflected both moderating inflation and rising expectations for Federal Reserve rate cuts. For income and defensive investors, the period was constructive: dividend-paying sectors once again demonstrated resilience, while more cyclical industries delivered some of the strongest gains. Across sectors, the rotation toward cyclical and commodity-linked…
Predictions of an oil glut have dominated oil market reporting for months. Bloomberg this week suggested the first signs of oversupply may be emerging already, with several million barrels of Middle Eastern oil left unsold in the latest spot market cycle. Yet some analysts disagree that there is a danger of a glut—winter is coming and so is stocking up for heating season. Somewhere between 6 million barrels and 12 million barrels of crude produced in the Middle East did not find buyers in the last spot market cycle, with deliveries for November,…
Farmers in Pakistan are replacing diesel-fueled pumps with solar energy to power the typical irrigation technique in a large part of the world’s fifth most populous country. Many farmers rely on the so-called tube wells—a water well and a motorized pump to take water from groundwater. Amid soaring diesel prices and unreliable electricity supply in recent years, more farmers are installing solar panels to help them with crop irrigation. The solar-powered tube wells provide smoother irrigation. Solar panels have steep upfront costs for…
Curtailment has become a very relevant issue in Brazil as renewable penetration grows. In short, curtailment is the forced reduction of renewable generation, which typically occurs when there is too much intermittent generation on the grid and insufficient transmission infrastructure. Operators are then required to shut down units to balance the system. The main drivers are transmission bottlenecks, operational restrictions related to grid stability and reliability and localized oversupply. We can split these into two major categories: infrastructure…
The onshore wind sector has historically witnessed mild growth in Southeast Asia (SEA) since the start of the decade due to a combination of regulatory hurdles, weak grid infrastructure, high costs associated with developing local supply chains, and persistent reliance on cheaper fossil fuels like coal, which are perceived as more stable. However, this could change, with Rystad Energy’s analysis projecting onshore wind capacity in SEA to climb from 6.5 gigawatts (GW) in 2024 to 26 GW by 2030, an increase of 19.5 GW. This resurgence is fueled…
China just advanced another pawn in the high stakes international battle to achieve commercial nuclear fusion. China and the United States have been trading off breakthroughs in the race to unlock the holy grail of clean energy for years now, and the rate of technological advancement has been increasing exponentially as a result of heightened investment and policy support from the two largest economies in the world. The nuclear plants that currently provide 10% of the global energy mix use nuclear fission – the splitting of atoms –…
Recent months have underscored how Canada’s implementation of its tariff rate quota (TRQ) system is reshaping the market for oil country tubular goods (OCTG) and linepipe. The system, rolled out this summer, is already influencing procurement strategies as companies adapt to tighter import channels and higher costs. Rystad Energy expects mild upward pressure on Canadian OCTG and linepipe prices in the medium term as demand from pipeline projects grows and competition for limited import quotas intensifies. The TRQ system took effect in two…
Argentina’s federal government, for over a decade, has hungrily eyed the vast hydrocarbon potential of the Vaca Muerta (dead cow in Spanish) shale formation in Neuquén Province. It was in 2011 that the Peronist government of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner seized 51% of YPF from Spanish energy major Repsol, provoking a major backlash from financial markets and Big Oil. Despite the considerable negativity surrounding YPF’s nationalization, it was the catalyst that saw the driller emerge as a driving force for the successful…
Rising crude supply from OPEC+ and South America and a marked increase in longer-haul routes have hiked freight rates for supertankers, the so-called very large crude carriers (VLCCs) capable of transporting up to 2 million barrels of oil, to levels last seen nearly three years ago. Tanker owners and shipbrokers expect the strength in the supertanker market to spill over to smaller-sized vessels such as Aframaxes and Suezmaxes and continue into the fourth quarter of the year. In recent weeks, VLCC rates on the benchmark Middle East-to-China route…
The clean energy transition is well underway around the world, at what many experts estimate to be an unstoppable velocity. While political shifts in the United States are pulling the emergency break on clean energy policy mechanisms, the international energy sector is plowing full-steam ahead. “This is no longer a distant promise: it is happening now, at a pace and scale that was unthinkable even five years ago,” writes Reuters, “and it is being driven not just by advanced economies but increasingly by developing ones.”…
Uzbekistan evidently is on a fast-track to gain membership in the World Trade Organization. Tashkent’s application could win acceptance by the spring of 2026, WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iveala said in an interview with Uzbek television. Gaining membership in the WTO involves what can be a lengthy process of negotiations. It took China, for example, 15 years for its application to be approved. Technically, Uzbekistan’s accession process dates back to 1994, but Tashkent only demonstrated a serious intent to meet WTO requirements…
In a shock development, U.S. President Donald Trump decertified Colombia as a partner in the decades-long drug war for the first time since 1997. This is a monumental blow for the historically close relationship between Colombia and the United States. The White House declared Colombia “failed demonstrably” to meet obligations imposed by international counternarcotics agreements. This is indicative of the antagonistic relationship between Colombia’s first-ever leftist President, Gustavo Petro, and the Trump administration. It bodes…
Following almost three years of strict sanctions on Russian energy by the United States and European Union, Russia continues to use shadow fleets to transport vast quantities of crude to countries looking to invest in its discounted energy products. While several countries have used shadow fleets to avoid sanctions in the past, Russia has invested heavily in this practice and now has hundreds of unmarked, aging ships on the water, transporting crude to anyone who will take it. Shadow fleets are “dark fleets” that use a range of…
Shrinking discovered volumes, rising oil and gas demand, and a renewed focus on energy security have driven the global oil and gas industry to refocus on frontier regions in pursuit of new discoveries essential for sustaining long-term growth. The peer group of six global majors – ExxonMobil, Shell, TotalEnergies, BP, Chevron, and Eni – is responsible for about 20% of the total conventional oil and gas volumes discovered since 2020. These companies possess the technical skills and financial muscle needed to explore technically challenging…
For the past two years, the United States has set oil production records. This growth is a continuance of the surge in oil production resulting from the shale boom that began earlier this century. According to data from the Energy Information Administration, U.S. oil production average 13.2 million barrels per day in 2024, up from 12.7 million in 2023 and 12.5 million in 2022. It is now clear that the U.S. is on track this year to set its third consecutive annual record for crude oil production. Year-to-date production through the week ending September…
Investors who wish to put their money in Vietnam’s energy, construction and telecommunications sectors will now require police approvals for their projects as the government moves to boost security and ensure "absolute leadership." The security ministry will also supervise and inspect foreign aid projects in a bid to comprehensively appraise their potential impacts on security and social order. "In socio-economic development, security must be ensured, without sacrificing national interests for economic benefits," said the security ministry's…
Japan just became the second country in the world to launch a commercial-scale osmotic energy plant, a big win for the little-known form of clean energy generation that first broke ground in Denmark. While osmotic energy is nascent and its testing grounds remain limited, it has big potential – The World Economic Forum recently named osmotic power systems as one of the top 10 emerging technologies to watch in 2025. This form of carbon-free energy generation uses osmosis between freshwater and saltwater to create power. In other words, it works…
