The total number of active drilling rigs for oil and gas in the United States rose by 3 this week, according to new data that Baker Hughes published on Tuesday, bringing the total rig count in the US  to 545 this week, down 44 from this same time last year. The number of active oil rigs rose by 3 in the reporting period, according to the data, after US drillers saw an 8-rig decline in the week prior. Oil rigs are now at 409, which is 74 below this same time last year. The number of gas rigs stayed the same at 127, which is 25 more than this…

President Trump’s recent decision to rescind the Biden-era fuel efficiency standards marks a sharp shift in U.S. transportation policy. While the administration frames the move as a win for consumers and automakers, the implications extend well beyond the showroom floor. The rollback raises fresh questions about how automakers should plan long-term investments in an increasingly fragmented regulatory environment. What The Biden Standards Were Designed To Achieve The Biden administration’s rules, finalized in 2024, set aggressive targets:…

China’s independent refiners are accelerating purchases of Russia’s Far Eastern ESPO crude blend as Chinese refiners were issued new import quotas and the discount of Russian crude swelled to a record high, traders told Reuters on Tuesday. After missing out the crude purchasing windows for most of the fourth quarter, amid a lack of quotas allowing imports, the Chinese refiners, especially the so-called ‘teapots’ of the Shandong province, are back on the market hunting for bargain trades. The discount of the Russian ESPO…

China’s independent refiners are accelerating purchases of Russia’s Far Eastern ESPO crude blend as Chinese refiners were issued new import quotas and the discount of Russian crude swelled to a record high, traders told Reuters on Tuesday. After missing out the crude purchasing windows for most of the fourth quarter, amid a lack of quotas allowing imports, the Chinese refiners, especially the so-called ‘teapots’ of the Shandong province, are back on the market hunting for bargain trades. The discount of the Russian ESPO…

The Chinese yuan is making gains on the US dollar in Central Asia as a form of payment in commercial transactions. For example, the volume of trade in the Chinese yuan/Kazakh tenge (CNY/KZT) forex pair in Kazakhstan’s spot foreign exchange market grew by 102.1 percent to an equivalent of about $2 billion during the January-November period in 2025, compared with the same timeframe last year, according to Kazakhstan’s stock exchange platform, KASE. However, the US dollar (USD) remains the dominant foreign currency by far. For the USD/KZT…

Copper prices hit a fresh high on Tuesday, rallying above $12,000 per ton on the London Metal Exchange, and on track to post their biggest annual gain since 2009, as supply disruptions and U.S. trade policies have created concerns about shortages. On Tuesday midday, copper prices hit as much as $12,044 per ton on the London Metal Exchange (LME), crossing the $12,000 a ton threshold for the first time ever. Prices have rallied and set several record-highs since October when concerns about supply shortages intensified. Copper prices have soared by…

Iraq on Tuesday announced a complete suspension of natural gas imports from Iran, a move the electricity ministry said immediately knocked between 4,000 and 4,500 megawatts off the national power grid. On its face, the decision sounds dramatic. In practical terms, it is but the final step in a process that was already well underway. Iraqi officials have spent the past year declaring victory over fuel imports, first halting shipments of gasoline, diesel, and kerosene while pitching a broader narrative of energy self-sufficiency. Gas was the remaining—and…

Iraq on Tuesday announced a complete suspension of natural gas imports from Iran, a move the electricity ministry said immediately knocked between 4,000 and 4,500 megawatts off the national power grid. On its face, the decision sounds dramatic. In practical terms, it is but the final step in a process that was already well underway. Iraqi officials have spent the past year declaring victory over fuel imports, first halting shipments of gasoline, diesel, and kerosene while pitching a broader narrative of energy self-sufficiency. Gas was the remaining—and…

Sweden’s power giant Vattenfall announced on Tuesday it is applying for state aid for an investment in small modular reactors (SMRs) as part of a plan by industrial giants to bet on new nuclear power in the country.  Last month Sweden’s biggest industrial firms signed an agreement with Vattenfall to become shareholders in the power giant’s new company, Videberg Kraft AB, which plans to build SMRs in the country. One of Europe’s top electric utilities, Vattenfall, created Videberg Kraft AB in April this year as a separate…

Crude futures recovered some lost ground in the days before Christmas. Russia Muscles Into China’s LNG Market as Australia Loses Ground - Russia has become the second-largest LNG supplier to China, doubling its deliveries of super-chilled gas year-over-year in November to 1.6 million metric tonnes, according to Chinese customs data. - China’s weak demand for LNG has been one of the most consistent downtrends this year, with 2025 arrivals totalling only 66 million tonnes, down 16% from a year ago when imports tallied up to 78 million…

Oil markets are on edge as the U.S. escalates its seizures of sanctioned oil tankers off the coast of Venezuela, boarding a second tanker on Saturday before pursuing a third out into the Atlantic on Sunday. These actions, coming on the back of Trump’s announcement of a blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela, have ratcheted up tensions between the two countries.  At the same time, the U.S. is continuing to strike boats that it claims are smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, with more than 100 people…

At least half a dozen sanctioned tankers have loaded oil from Venezuela since December 11, when the U.S. escalated the pressure on Venezuelan oil exports, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, quoting data from Kpler.   Loadings of oil from Venezuelan ports appear to have been happening in recent weeks at a more or less typical pace despite the U.S. crackdown on vessels involved in illicit oil trade, according to Kpler’s data.    Earlier this month, the Trump Administration intensified pressure on Venezuela’s Nicolas…

Geopolitical developments have moved oil prices in both directions in recent days. Yet, the movements up or down were short-lived and smaller than they would have been if the market were tight or balanced.   But the feared oversupply is already here, manifested in the largest volume of oil in floating storage accumulated since the 2020 pandemic year, when the crash in demand led to a major stock surge both on land and on tankers at sea. The well-supplied market with Brent crude prices barely hanging on to the $60 per barrel handle has kept…

Everyone seems to be in agreement: global oil supply is greater than the demand for the fuel. The consensus stands despite the fact that some of the world’s biggest storage hubs are far from overflowing. Now, many forecast even more production coming into this oversupplied market. It would only hasten the inevitable rebalancing. Kpler reported earlier this month that the amount of oil on tankers had gone up to the highest since 2020, reaching 1.3 billion barrels. But storage hubs in the Caribbean and South Africa are sitting half-empty, and…

The prospect of a peace deal in Ukraine has been gaining momentum in the global oil market over the past few days, stripping away part of the geopolitical risk premium that has kept prices elevated since Russia’s invasion on 24 February 2022. Following meetings last week in Berlin with Ukrainian and European officials, U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner stated that consensus was reached on around 90% of the issues within a 20-point peace plan. Ukraine has indicated that it may drop its NATO membership bid in exchange for legally…

America’s $30.6 trillion economy is greater than China, Germany, and Japan combined, with real GDP set to rise 2% this year. In comparison, India’s economy is projected to grow 6.6%, among the fastest rates across the world’s largest economies. It is only surpassed by Ireland, as frontloading of exports is expected to expand GDP by a striking 9.1% in 2025. This graphic, via Visual Capitalist's Dorothy Neufeld, shows the state of the world economy in 2025, based on projections from the IMF’s latest World Economic…

Shares of Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. (NYSE:DJT) have surged nearly 70% after the company agreed to merge with fusion startup TAE Technologies in a $6 billion deal. Under the terms of the deal, shareholders of each company will own roughly half of the combined entity on a fully diluted equity basis. Trump Media, majority owned by U.S. President Donald Trump, will now become the holding company for TAE Power Solutions and TAE Life Sciences alongside current holdings Truth Social, Truth+ and Truth.Fi.  Founded in 1998, TAE Technologies…

The marketing deck for the next decade of energy storage has a favorite protagonist: Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP).  It’s the "sensible" chemistry. No cobalt, no nickel, no ethical hand-wringing over mines in the DRC, and…crucially...no thermal runaway that turns an electric SUV into a roadside bonfire. This isn't just a story about a safer battery…t’s a story about the strategic surrender of the West’s "premium" battery lead to China’s industrial floor... In 2024, LFP had already captured nearly half of…

Shell and INEOS Energy have struck oil at a deepwater exploration well in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, confirming a new discovery in the high-pressure Norphlet formation. Shell and INEOS Energy said the Nashville exploration well encountered high-quality oil more than 26,000 feet below the seabed, according to industry reporting The well was drilled in deepwater acreage targeting the Norphlet play, a technically demanding formation associated with extreme pressure and temperature conditions that require advanced well design, specialized drilling fluids,…

Shell and INEOS Energy have struck oil at a deepwater exploration well in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, confirming a new discovery in the high-pressure Norphlet formation. Shell and INEOS Energy said the Nashville exploration well encountered high-quality oil more than 26,000 feet below the seabed, according to industry reporting The well was drilled in deepwater acreage targeting the Norphlet play, a technically demanding formation associated with extreme pressure and temperature conditions that require advanced well design, specialized drilling fluids,…