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Supermajors are set to report bumper profits for the second quarter thanks to the surge in oil and gas prices, driven higher by the hostilities between the United States, Israel, and Iran. This is a problem for governments—notably the Trump administration, but politicians in Europe are angry at Big Oil’s good fortune again. Oil prices soared fourfold earlier this year after U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran prompted the latter to shut traffic via the Strait of Hormuz—something Tehran had been threatening it would do for decades…
An unconventional approach to nuclear energy production just got one step closer to reality. A prototype reactor canister just arrived at its installation site in Kansas, where it will soon be part of a proof of concept for a first-of-its-kind underground small modular reactor system. California-based startup Deep Fission believes that by burying a small nuclear reactor deep under the ground, they can make nuclear energy cheaper and safer at a time when round-the-clock carbon-free energy is needed more than ever before. “The prototype has…
Kazakhstan is growing more possessive of its petroleum products as a gasoline shortage tightens its grip in Russia and the US-Iran conflict reignites. Kazakh officials have established new police checkpoints on almost 60 roads along the country’s lengthy border with Russia to curb ‘gasoline tourism,’ according to local news reports. In addition, new restrictions have been introduced at border checkpoints, limiting trucks and cars to one crossing per day. In recent weeks, as gasoline shortages have spread across Russia caused by…
A United States firm just got one step closer to realizing the development of a thorium reactor – using a 3D printer. The Florida-based advanced nuclear energy company AMPERA successfully fabricated a nuclear reactor module using a 3D printer, which will serve as the basis for what the firm hopes will be the first thorium-powered nuclear power system that is entirely factory-built, subcritical, and solid-state. “This next-generation nuclear core and pressure vessel sets the foundation for factory-built, mass-produced nuclear energy,”…
A team of scientists at Texas A&M University accidentally discovered a new method for producing a critical component in lithium-ion batteries. The team, based in College Station, Texas, was trying to study an entirely different phenomenon when they discovered that they could produce graphene oxide directly from natural gas. Not only does this discovery mean that a critical battery component could be produced more efficiently and cheaply, the process also creates green hydrogen as a byproduct. Initially, the team was trying to experiment with…
Donald Trump is trying to push forward a nuclear power renaissance in the United States as the AI boom presents the country with a major looming energy deficit. The federal government recently announced over $17 billion in federal loans as part of a scheme to encourage investment in revitalizing the nation’s ageing nuclear fleet. The move comes as part of a broader desire on the part of the Trump administration to “produce lasting American dominance in the global nuclear energy market.” However, it will take a lot more than a…
Nigeria is trying to rebuild its energy industry from the ground up, not only trying to recover lost crude production, but working to turn itself into Africa’s dominant refining, gas, capital markets and energy export hub. The clearest test is the Dangote Refinery. The 650,000-barrel-per-day plant has already changed Nigeria’s fuel market and is now preparing for what could become the largest IPO in African history. Dangote Refinery is seeking to raise around $4 billion at a valuation of roughly $40 billion, a listing that would place…
Fly into Abilene, Amarillo or Midland this year and you'll see the buildout before you land: cranes over half-finished turbine halls, miles of freshly trenched pipeline right-of-way, and fenced-off scrubland that a year ago grew nothing but mesquite and cotton. Texas has become the epicenter of America's AI data center boom, and unlike a lot of things AI, the money behind it is already spent, not just promised. ERCOT, the grid operator that runs most of the state's power market, now projects electricity demand could approach 368 gigawatts by 2032,…
For two years, the European Union has been the biggest regional buyer of U.S. liquefied natural gas. Sanctions on Russia, including a ban on LNG purchased from 2027, have prompted the pivot, actively encouraged by the second Trump administration. But last month, Europe shunned American liquefied gas because it was too expensive. This will be a problem for the trade deal that just went into effect. Last July, President Donald Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen signed a trade deal framework that would ensure preferential…
For a decade, Colombia's economically vital oil industry has been caught in a death spiral. A combination of sharply weaker oil prices, rising geopolitical risk and anti-petroleum industry reforms implemented by Colombia's first leftist president Gustavo Petro deterred investment, causing the operational tempo to decline. The main issue weighing heavily on the oil patch's outlook is a dire lack of proven petroleum reserves. These are the result of a lack of spending on wildcat drilling and a poor exploration success rate. After a lengthy delay,…
London Climate Action Week took place during an intense heat wave last week, causing some of the planned events to be cancelled and calling extra attention to the urgency of the summit’s cause. One of the biggest takeaways of the event, underscored by the weather, is that Europe has missed critical opportunities to catalyze the clean energy transition and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. A number of bankers present at the London Climate Action Week were in agreement that “EU authorities risk curbing investments in the continent’s…
A team of researchers in Germany has discovered a highly efficient way to convert sunlight into hydrogen fuel, potentially solving some of the most critical challenges facing the green hydrogen sector and offering an elegant solution to clean up some of the economy’s dirtiest industries. The new prototype, which uses a kind of solar cell used in spacecraft, is a proof-of-concept for what could someday make the production of totally clean-burning fuel a commercially scalable possibility. Scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy…
There have recently been many warnings about near-term oil shortages stemming from the conflict in Iran. Most analysts assume that shortages mean higher prices. As I will explain, the dynamics of a self-organizing economy suggest the opposite outcome — lower prices, deepening recession, and shortages of goods and services that have little to do with price. A cartoon scene featuring a bluebird on a cliff, looking confidently at a surprised coyote who is about to fall off the edge, with a yellow sky in the background. Figure 1. Wile E. Coyote…
The United States and Iran have stepped back from the brink of all-out war, but the ceasefire that followed nearly four months of fighting is still being tested by flare-ups around the Strait of Hormuz. One outcome of the crisis, though, is already clear: the clean energy transition is speeding up, and shows no sign of slowing. The war is just the latest in a string of conflicts to send shockwaves through oil and gas markets in recent years, leaving global leaders increasingly wary of dependence on fossil fuel imports and underscoring the energy…
For years, critics of the energy transition have made essentially the same argument. Renewable energy was supposedly too expensive, too dependent on subsidies, too intermittent, and too vulnerable to survive a serious energy security crisis. Sooner or later, they argued, governments and investors would return to the comfort of oil, gas, and coal. The latest figures from the International Energy Agency suggest the opposite is happening. According to the IEA's newly released World Energy Investment 2026 report, global investment in clean energy has…
China’s clean energy dominance is growing. Buoyed by the skyrocketing energy needs and future projected demands of the artificial intelligence boom, clean energy projects are getting greenlit at a breakneck pace. And those projects depend on cheap Chinese clean energy components, as Beijing has near-total control of global supply chains for clean energy tech including solar panels and lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles as well as energy storage systems. As a result, Chinese clean energy exports are going gangbusters in virtually…
Last week, Angola's state oil company, Sociedade Nacional de Combustíveis de Angola (Sonangol), secured a $2.65-billion financing deal with a consortium of international banks to fund the company's operating expenses and capital investments. The financing was heavily backed by a syndicate of foreign lenders including Société Générale, First Abu Dhabi Bank, Standard Bank of South Africa and Absa, while local Angolan banks, including Banco Fomento de Angola (BFA), Banco Millennium Atlântico and Banco Angolano…
“It’s going to be the decade of geothermal,” Cindy Taff, chief executive of geothermal company Sage Geosystems, told The Hill in February of 2025. Over a year later, it is becoming increasingly evident that Taff is definitely onto something. Although geothermal energy is still a tiny sector and faces some significant headwinds when it comes to its up-front installation and development costs, it has numerous competitive edges over other, more common energy sources. It’s clean, it’s constant, it’s politically popular,…
A team of researchers at the Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (KIGAM) have just found a way to make biochar production faster and cheaper. The new method solves a major challenge in standard biochar production processes and potentially unlocks a recycling stream that can divert millions of tons of waste away from landfill annually and turn it into a productive energy source at a time when new energy alternatives are needed more urgently than ever before. Biochar is essentially charcoal that is made by heating up organic waste…
The United States is still the largest producer of nuclear energy in the world – but probably not for long. Decades of political ambivalence have left the domestic nuclear sector in a state of neglect. Far more reactors are aging out than being constructed, and the country’s few attempts at building new nuclear fission reactors have been controversial, expensive, and slow to get off the ground. After Georgia’s Plant Vogtle finally came online years late and billions over budget in 2024, zero new reactors have since come under…
Threats from President Trump to bomb Iran again and Iranian negotiators leaving the talks in Switzerland once again clouded the outlook for one of the world’s busiest oil chokepoints. Talks are progressing, but the degree of uncertainty about global oil supply security remains high—because of the risk environment in the strait, of which most appear to be oblivious. Social media users have started calling Hormuz the Strait of Schrodinger, and with good reason. It is not only about whether the passage of vessels is unobstructed by Iranian…
U.S. airlines stand to save billions in dollars on jet fuel costs after the US-Iran peace deal sent oil prices sharply lower. Brent crude was trading at $79.22 per barrel at 6.05 am ET on Monday, nearly $20/bbl lower after Washington and Tehran agreed to a ceasefire and committed to 60 days of negotiations, while jet fuel spot prices fell to $2.85 a gallon, down sharply from $4.88. The dip in fuel costs could slash the U.S. airline industry’s annual fuel bill by more than $40 billion, easing the pressure on carriers who were facing…
