Data center load accounted for $6.5 billion, or 40%, of the $16.4 billion in costs from the PJM Interconnection’s December capacity auction, according to the grid operator’s independent market monitor. About $6.2 billion of those costs is related to data centers that haven’t been built but could come online by PJM’s 2027/28 delivery year that begins on June 1, 2027, Monitoring Analytics, the market monitor, said in a report released Monday. In PJM’s last three base capacity auctions, costs related to data center…

India’s largest refiner is signaling it may be ready to reopen a door it closed less than a year ago — if Washington lets it. Reliance Industries said Thursday it would consider buying Venezuelan crude again if sales are permitted to non-U.S. buyers, showing just how quickly global oil trade patterns are being reshuffled after the United States moved to allow limited Venezuelan exports following the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro. Reliance, which operates the world’s largest refining complex, stopped taking Venezuelan…

The online debate continues to rage over the merits and demerits of the U.S.’s audacious capture of Nicolás Maduro. Narratives around international law and geopolitical ramifications are relevant, but Venezuela’s oil potential now dominates. I have written that the ‘war for oil’ narrative is a mirage. Just as there are many competing interests in the Trump administration, there are myriad motives for Maduro’s removal – be they fair or foul. While Venezuela’s proven reserves are formidable, the expert…

U.S. President Donald Trump has invited heads of commodity trading firms, Vitol and Trafigura, to the White House for talks on Friday regarding the marketing of Venezuelan oil,  Reuters has reported.  Whereas the Trump administration has tapped U.S. oil majors to play a leading role in extracting and selling crude from Venezuela, the giant European firms are some of the largest oil traders in the world, and undoubtedly have the requisite expertise to market oil from Venezuela. Vitol delivered an average of 7.2 million barrels per day…

Azerbaijani leader Ilham Aliyev is pushing for the creation of a Turkic trade corridor that connects Central Asia’s resource riches to Western markets. In Aliyev’s view, Turkic states should work in 2026 not only to increase coordination on connectivity and trade but also start building a robust defense and security component. Aliyev outlined his vision during an expansive news conference on January 5, where he designated the Organization of Turkic States (OTS) as the corridor’s foundation.…

Bobi Wine, a pop star-turned-politician and an opposition candidate in Uganda’s presidential election next week, will review all oil contracts the country has with international oil firms and revise any deals that aren’t favorable for Ugandans. “We shall study all agreements,” Wine told Reuters in an interview published on Thursday, a week before Uganda – an aspiring oil-producing nation – holds presidential elections on January 15. “And any part in those agreements that does not favour Ugandans will definitely…

Oil prices climbed sharply on Thursday morning, with both Brent crude and U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures trading up 2% in early U.S. trading hours as investors assessed the ongoing fallout from dramatic political and oil-market developments in Venezuela.  The gains mark a rebound after recent churn in global energy markets on supply concerns, U.S. inventory draws and heightened geopolitical risk. At 9.28 a.m. Thursday, Benchmark Brent crude was trading up 2.02% at $61.17, while U.S. WTI was up 1.95% at $57.05, reflecting renewed…

Oil prices climbed sharply on Thursday morning, with both Brent crude and U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures trading up 2% in early U.S. trading hours as investors assessed the ongoing fallout from dramatic political and oil-market developments in Venezuela.  The gains mark a rebound after recent churn in global energy markets on supply concerns, U.S. inventory draws and heightened geopolitical risk. At 9.28 a.m. Thursday, Benchmark Brent crude was trading up 2.02% at $61.17, while U.S. WTI was up 1.95% at $57.05, reflecting renewed…

Mitigating global greenhouse gas emissions will require futuristic and high-profile clean energy production breakthroughs like nuclear fusion and enhanced geothermal systems, but it will also depend on many smaller and significantly less sexy developments in tandem. In fact, some of the lowest-hanging fruit have some of the biggest payoffs when it comes to reducing emissions. Seemingly small tweaks like making residential heating and cooling more efficient can have massive impacts on global carbon footprints. “Energy efficiency is one of…

The US seizure of a Russian-flagged oil tanker in the North Atlantic dramatically raises the stakes in Washington's naval blockade of Venezuela, blowing apart an apparent Kremlin strategy to reflag its shadow fleet ships to offer them protection and stoking wider tensions with Moscow. Some 21 flagless vessels have adopted Russia's flag since the United States seized a shadow fleet tanker called the Skipper in the Caribbean on December 10, according to data from Windward, a maritime intelligence company. That was followed by US President Donald…

Despite the European Union’s public commitment to sever energy ties with Moscow, new data reveals that the bloc’s ports remained the biggest buyer for Russia’s flagship Arctic liquefied natural gas (LNG) project throughout 2025.  An analysis of Kpler vessel-tracking data published Thursday by the non-governmental organization Urgewald shows that EU terminals handled 76.1% of all exports from the Yamal LNG facility last year, netting the Kremlin an estimated €7.2 billion ($8.4 billion). The findings emerge as the EU prepares…

Chinese energy companies with operations in Venezuela have asked the government for guidance in how to protect their investments in the South American country now that the United States has effectively taken control of its oil industry. The information comes from Bloomberg, which cited unnamed sources as saying CNPC had been the leader of the group to broach the subject with Beijing, which earlier this week slammed the U.S. federal government for bullying Venezuela. “The United States' brazen use of force against Venezuela and its demand…

China has banned the export of several rare earth minerals to Japan over controversial remarks made by Japan’s Prime Minister regarding Taiwan, marking a new low in deteriorating relationships between the two trade partners. According to a commerce ministry statement on Tuesday, China has banned exports of dual-use items, including certain rare earth elements, to Japan, effective immediately. Dual-use items include technologies, goods or software with both civilian and military applications. Beijing’s latest move is a reaction to controversial…

For years, energy investors flocked to anything labeled “green” or “clean”, with governments making it clear that there is only one energy policy path forward, and that is the green, clean one. That ended in 2025 with the rise of AI, which caused a surge in energy demand—for the first time in decades. Energy demand in the organization for Economic Cooperation and Development had been growing at a modest 1% for the three decades between 1990 and 2020, Global Corporate Venturing author Fernando Moncada Rivera noted this…

Colombia's cocaine production has spiraled out of control over the past 30 years. Even the downfall of the Medellin and Cali Cartels, along with the death of Pablo Escobar on a suburban Medellin rooftop, did little to impact production. By the 1990s, Colombia had overtaken Peru to be the world’s leading supplier of the narcotic. An ignominious title Colombia holds today, with it responsible for over 67% of the global supply. Washington’s war on drugs, with the White House investing considerable resources, including advisers, weaponry…

For decades, green hydrogen has been touted as the “next big thing” in clean energy technology, with particularly promising potential applications in hard-to-abate sectors like transport, steelmaking, and shipping. However, the long-predicted green hydrogen renaissance has never come to fruition due to several factors, including the prohibitively high cost of production and the energy losses and inefficiencies associated with using green hydrogen rather than clean energy directly.  Hydrogen can be combusted at high temperatures…

The dramatic events over the weekend in Venezuela have renewed global attention on a country that, on paper, should be one of the world’s great energy powers. Venezuela holds the largest proven oil reserves on Earth, yet its oil industry has been in long-term decline for two decades. Understanding why requires looking past the headlines and into the technical, legal, and political decisions that steadily dismantled what was once a cornerstone of the global petroleum system. The United States confirmed that Venezuelan President Nicolás…

The Iraqi government has approved a move to take over operations at the West Qurna 2 oilfield under provisions in its technical service contract with Russia’s Lukoil, following the company’s declaration of force majeure in November, Reuters reported on Wednesday.  The step allows Iraq to ensure continued production after Lukoil cited operational constraints linked to Western sanctions on Russia. West Qurna 2, one of Iraq’s largest producing fields at around 470,000 barrels per day, is state-owned and operated under a service…

The Iraqi government has approved a move to take over operations at the West Qurna 2 oilfield under provisions in its technical service contract with Russia’s Lukoil, following the company’s declaration of force majeure in November, Reuters reported on Wednesday.  The step allows Iraq to ensure continued production after Lukoil cited operational constraints linked to Western sanctions on Russia. West Qurna 2, one of Iraq’s largest producing fields at around 470,000 barrels per day, is state-owned and operated under a service…

There is a lot more to the UAE’s recently announced US$150 billion turbo-boost to its gas sector than meets the eye. It is true that it should deliver multiple economic benefits for the Middle Eastern country on a scale disproportionately larger than its small geographical size. One is gas self-sufficiency by 2030; another is increased feedstock for high-value petrochemicals production; and a third is powering a dramatic expansion in its artificial intelligence capabilities. However, it is also true that such major build?out of its gas sector…