Jeffrey Epstein's dark web of global dealings is known to have stretched far and wide, with the disgraced and deceased American tycoon now infamous for having used his network to engage in various high-stakes, often secretive, financial, and political maneuvers designed to leverage his elite social circle for profit. While he is, perhaps, better known for his infamous sex crimes, recent revelations by the so-called Epstein files suggest that the man utilized his immense wealth, and his role as a "collector of people" to establish a system of influence…

Investments in the European chemicals industry are dropping off a cliff, capacity shutdowns topped 5 million tons last year, and investors are leaving for greener pastures as the EU chokes the industry with regulations. Energy costs remain too high for anyone’s comfort. Europe is facing yet another massive import dependence. Investments in the chemicals industry in Europe last year took an 80% plunge, the Financial Times reported last month, citing data from the European Chemical Industry Council (Cefic). The industry group warned that capacity…

The hyperscaler-driven surge in U.S. power demand is creating ripple effects in the global supply chain, with gas turbines becoming the most critical bottleneck to rolling out flexible baseload capacity to support accelerated load growth.    Gas turbine makers report soaring backlogs and delivery times years after order placement, while analysts say the bottlenecks in power plant equipment effectively delay the gas-fired power capacity that is needed now.  The U.S. sees unprecedented power demand growth—AI infrastructure,…

The push into electric vehicles was always bullshit, sold by the left as the move that would future-proof America’s and Europe’s legacy automakers and save the planet - and anyone not buying it was subject to a guilt trip from smug, private-jet-owning elitists. Instead, EVs are now looking like one of the costliest strategic blunders in modern automotive history. Major U.S. and European brands - including Ford, General Motors, Stellantis, Mercedes-Benz, and Volkswagen - have collectively burned through nearly…

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping held a video link call on Wednesday, wherein Putin hailed Russia's energy relationship with China as "strategic" while emphasizing that Beijing has become Moscow's top buyer of oil and gas since the Ukraine 'special military operation' began. The timing is the most notable aspect, given the call came just two days after Trump announced he would cut tariffs on Indian goods in exchange for New Delhi halting purchases of Russian crude. Trump also said Washington…

Mexico’s National Oil Company Pemex has announced that it intends to uphold its oil supply contract with Cuba despite growing pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump that Mexico distance itself from Cuba, Reuters reported on Wednesday. According to Pemex CEO Victor Rodriguez Padilla, Pemex has an ongoing contract with Cuba from 2023 to deliver refined fuel. Rodriguez says his company will continue oil shipments to Cuba as long as there is crude available. Last week, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum revealed that her country had temporarily…

Houston, Texas-based refiner Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX) has exceeded Wall Street estimates for the fourth quarter as U.S. refining margins posted a strong rebound from 2024 lows. Phillips posted Q4 EPS of $2.47, $0.32 above the Wall Street consensus, while fourth quarter earnings of $2.91 billion represented a big jump from third quarter earnings of $133 million, and also generated $2.8 billion of net operating cash flow. Refinery margins for the quarter, measured by the 3-2-1 crack spread, improved 45% Y/Y on average thanks to a rebound in product…

Houston, Texas-based refiner Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX) has exceeded Wall Street estimates for the fourth quarter as U.S. refining margins posted a strong rebound from 2024 lows. Phillips posted Q4 EPS of $2.47, $0.32 above the Wall Street consensus, while fourth quarter earnings of $2.91 billion represented a big jump from third quarter earnings of $133 million, and also generated $2.8 billion of net operating cash flow. Refinery margins for the quarter, measured by the 3-2-1 crack spread, improved 45% Y/Y on average thanks to a rebound in product…

Houston, Texas-based refiner Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX) has exceeded Wall Street estimates for the fourth quarter as U.S. refining margins posted a strong rebound from 2024 lows. Phillips posted Q4 EPS of $2.47, $0.32 above the Wall Street consensus, while fourth quarter earnings of $2.91 billion represented a big jump from third quarter earnings of $133 million, and also generated $2.8 billion of net operating cash flow. Refinery margins for the quarter, measured by the 3-2-1 crack spread, improved 45% Y/Y on average thanks to a rebound in product…

U.S. oil major Chevron Corp. (NYSE:CVX) has signed a memorandum of understanding with Qatari firm UCC Holding and Syria’s National Oil Company (NOC), the Syrian Petroleum Company, to explore for oil and gas in offshore Syria, a region lying between major gas discoveries in Israel and Egypt, Reuters has reported.  Currently, Syria gets the lion’s share of its oil production from onshore fields in the northeast, including the Al-Omar field. Syria is geographically close to the prolific Leviathan gas field, as both are located in…

The European Union’s biggest economies – Germany, France, and Italy – will lead the bloc’s efforts to build stockpiles of critical minerals to reduce dependence on China, sources familiar with the plans told Reuters on Wednesday.   Germany will be responsible for overseeing the sourcing of the critical minerals, France will take charge of helping secure financing for the EU’s purchases, and Italy will oversee the storage of the key metals and minerals, sources who attended a meeting with EU officials in December…

Azerbaijan’s power transmission grid operator AzerEnergy, has begun construction of Azerbaijan’s sections of a planned line that ultimately can connect Azerbaijan and Europe via the TRIPP corridor and Turkey.  The power line received a green light under the TRIPP corridor agreement signed last summer in Washington. According to AzerEnergy, work has started both on a 74-kilometer section of line inside Azerbaijan and a 105-kilometer-long section inside the country’s Nakhchivan enclave.  Both lines are rated…

Uniper is not concerned that Europe now gets more than half of its LNG supply from the United States, as it is the most economical solution while buyers seek to diversify imports from other global providers, according to Carsten Poppinga, the German utility giant’s chief commercial officer.  In recent weeks, EU officials, including Energy Commissioner Dan Jorgensen, have said that moves by the U.S. Administration such as President Donald Trump’s promise to “own” Greenland, are a “wake-up call” for Europe…

Crude oil inventories in the United States decreased by 3.5 million barrels during the week ending January 30, according to new data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released on Wednesday. The decrease brings commercial stockpiles to 420.3 million barrels according to government data, which is 4% below the five-year average for this time of year. Analysts had expected a 2 million barrel drop in inventory. The EIA’s data release follows API’s figures that were released a day earlier, which suggested that crude oil…

The current financing model for most LNG export projects, where banks require a large part of the future volumes to be contracted in advance in long-term deals, needs to change, according to Richard Holtum, chief executive at major commodity trader Trafigura. Currently, projects in the Americas, for example, need to show the banks that 80-90% of their future annual supply is already locked in long-term contracts with buyers. “I feel sorry for LNG projects in the US,” Holtum said on a panel at the LNG2026 conference in Doha, Qatar, as…

US-facilitated peace talks between Ukraine and Russia have begun in the United Arab Emirates, hours after Russian forces again struck targets across Ukraine. Direct negotiations involving Moscow and Kyiv, along with US representatives, resumed in Abu Dhabi on January 23-24. Meetings between Ukrainian and Russian negotiators have been rare since the Kremlin's full-scale invasion of February 2022. Ukraine's top negotiator, Rustem Umerov, confirmed on X that the negotiations had begun, saying negotiators from Ukraine, Russia, and the United States…

Russia’s flagship crude, Urals, is being offered in India at a widening discount to Brent, with the differential now at $11 per barrel and testing the appetite of Indian refiners amid the trade deal with the U.S. that calls for limited purchases of Russian oil. Sellers are offering Urals at an $11 per barrel discount this week, widened from about $9 a barrel ten days ago, anonymous traders involved in the offerings told Bloomberg on Wednesday.    Typically, such steep discounts would have Indian refiners rushing to lock in purchases.…

Russia’s flagship crude, Urals, is being offered in India at a widening discount to Brent, with the differential now at $11 per barrel and testing the appetite of Indian refiners amid the trade deal with the U.S. that calls for limited purchases of Russian oil. Sellers are offering Urals at an $11 per barrel discount this week, widened from about $9 a barrel ten days ago, anonymous traders involved in the offerings told Bloomberg on Wednesday.    Typically, such steep discounts would have Indian refiners rushing to lock in purchases.…

Contrary to forecasts of an LNG supply glut as soon as this year, Italy’s energy major Eni expects a “very finely balanced” market in 2026 as European demand is set to remain high after the winter to fill depleted inventories, and Asian consumption is expected to rebound with softer prices. “Europe has very low storages, and we need to refill it in the summer,” Cristian Signoretto, Director of the Global Gas & LNG Portfolio at Eni, told Reuters on the sidelines of the LNG2026 conference in Doha, Qatar.   …

REalloys, which is in the process of merging with Blackboxstocks Inc. (NASDAQ: BLBX), has signed non-binding agreements with AltynGroup Kazakhstan to pursue a long-term rare earth offtake and strategic investment partnership, linking Central Asian feedstock directly into North American processing at a moment when U.S. defense planners are growing increasingly uneasy about midstream supply risk. The agreements outline a 10-year offtake framework and a parallel, non-binding commitment of investment capital from AltynGroup that REalloys says…