Back in June, Air Products said construction of Saudi Arabia’s NEOM Green Hydrogen Project had reached roughly 80% completion across multiple sites. The project includes a large-scale green hydrogen production facility, dedicated solar and wind farms, and a purpose-built transmission network. Once operational, it is expected to become the world’s largest renewable-powered ammonia complex within the next two years. That progress, however, has unfolded against a much weaker oil backdrop than Riyadh anticipated when NEOM was conceived.…

Texas’ environmental regulator this week issued the largest air pollution permit in the country to an enormous planned complex of gas power plants and data centers near the oilfields of the Permian Basin, according to an announcement from the project’s developers.  Pacifico Energy, a global, investor-owned infrastructure company, called its 7.65 gigawatt GW Ranch in Pecos County “the largest power project in the United States” in a press release this week.  It’s among a handful of similarly…

Over a decade since the Arab Spring and the civil war that followed, Libya has opened its doors back up to oil and gas exploration. Despite the ongoing political uncertainty, with Libya divided between two leaderships, the North African country has established a U.S.-Libya partnership and bilateral relations, as well as signed contracts with several oil majors for the redevelopment of its fossil fuel industry.  In November, Libya announced it was offering 22 exploration blocks, with 11 offshore and 11 onshore. As home to Africa’s biggest…

The world is about to gain its first publicly traded ‘pure-play’ fusion company, and it's determined to deliver energy from nuclear fusion with an innovative model that uses neither magnets nor lasers, the most common components of leading fusion experiments. Instead, the model being piloted by the fusion-exclusive startup General Fusion uses mechanical pistons to contain plasma within a liquid lithium shell. Interesting Engineering reports that the technology has been described as a “practical, mechanical approach to fusion,…

Since the Labour government came into power in 2024, the United Kingdom has doubled down on efforts to decarbonise its economy and put itself on track for achieving its net-zero carbon emissions aims for the mid-century. However, in recent months, there has been some division in parliament about the high price tag associated with achieving the country’s climate goals.  The U.K. introduced its 2050 net-zero target in 2021, in a bid to limit global warming in line with international Paris Agreement aims. The government has since adopted…

Europe’s natural gas storage sites are depleting at the fastest pace in years, suggesting stocks would end this winter at their lowest level since 2022. End-of-winter supply in storage at the lowest in four years means that Europe will need very high imports in the shoulder seasons and the summer to replenish the stocks to adequate levels of 80-90% full storage by November 2026, as per the EU regulations. It’s a good thing then for Europe that the global LNG market will tilt into oversupply from this year until late this decade, as…

The European Union needs to diversify its natural gas sources, Brussels’ energy commissioner said this week, expressing a growing unease in European capitals that the EU has become too dependent on liquefied natural gas from the United States. Yet succeeding in that diversification drive will be tricky because of the bloc’s emissions-focused energy policies – and the sanctions on Russia. “We are speaking to countries around the world that are able to deliver LNG to us,” Energy Commissioner Dan Jorgensen told media…

The 56th World Economic Forum, also known as Davos 2026, was held in Switzerland in January, allowing world leaders and business representatives to meet with the aim of shaping global, regional, and industry agendas, with 60 heads of state, more than 400 political leaders, and 830 CEOs and Chairs in attendance this year. This year’s forum came at a time of heightened geopolitical tensions, particularly between the United States and its NATO allies, including Canada, Greenland, and Europe.  Addressing Global Risks and, to a Lesser Extent,…

This week, the World Bank and the Rockefeller Foundation announced that they will funnel tens of millions of dollars into the budding African solar power sector. The two major global funding bodies are investing in non-profit organizations across the African continent to expand solar power projects with the tandem goal of helping to boost the agricultural sector through solar-powered technologies.  “The initiative will support the rollout of solar-powered cold storage facilities, refrigerators, water pumps and grain mills in Kenya, Nigeria,…

If global heating reaches the 2-degree-Celsius mark, we can expect living conditions to change dramatically, according to the broad scientific consensus. The International Energy Agency (IEA) has repeatedly called for countries to decarbonise and shift to renewable energy to control global warming in the coming decades before it causes irreparable damage. However, with recent forecasts suggesting that several countries are going to fall short of their climate pledges, it is important to understand what that could mean for the world.  The Paris…

Trinidad and Tobago is once again trying to bring its long-idled one-and-only oil refinery back to life, but this time the government is talking to Indian Oil Corp about making it happen. The 165,000-barrel-per-day Guaracara refinery sits in southern Trinidad, near the town of Point-a-Pierre, along the Gulf of Paria and within sight of Venezuela’s coast on a clear day. It has been shuttered for years—since 2018 when the previous government pulled the plug, citing mounting losses, runaway upgrade costs, and a balance sheet that had gone…

Trinidad and Tobago is once again trying to bring its long-idled one-and-only oil refinery back to life, but this time the government is talking to Indian Oil Corp about making it happen. The 165,000-barrel-per-day Guaracara refinery sits in southern Trinidad, near the town of Point-a-Pierre, along the Gulf of Paria and within sight of Venezuela’s coast on a clear day. It has been shuttered for years—since 2018 when the previous government pulled the plug, citing mounting losses, runaway upgrade costs, and a balance sheet that had gone…

After U.S. forces snatched Nicolas Maduro in a daring night raid earlier this month, President Donald Trump began pressing oil companies to invest in Venezuela’s heavily corroded petroleum industry. The U.S. president eagerly urged drillers to invest in Venezuela, which sits atop the world’s largest oil reserves, with Washington’s protection. But those overtures received a lukewarm reception from U.S. and European energy companies. ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods called Venezuela uninvestable provoking Trump’s ire, but some…

The European Union is quietly preparing to take a much bigger swing at Russia’s oil trade. And this time, Brussels is aiming less at price optics and more at enforcement reality. The EU is reportedly weighing whether to scrap its Russian oil price cap altogether and replace it with a blanket ban on maritime services, Bloomberg sources have suggested. This would mean that European firms could no longer provide insurance, shipping, or transport services for Russian oil cargoes at any price. It would close one of the most persistent loopholes…

Brazilian independent Brava Energia’s acquisition of Petronas’ 50% non-operating share in the Tartaruga Verde and Espadarte Module III assets in Brazil marks the country’s first major merger and acquisition (M&A) deal of 2026 and follows the trend of local independents consolidating stronger positions in the offshore sector. Upon completion of the $450 million deal, Brava Energia will have the capacity to produce over 100,000 barrels of oil equivalent (boe) per day and could enter the ranks of the country’s top five…

The total number of active drilling rigs for oil and gas in the United States rose by 2 this week, according to new data that Baker Hughes published on Friday, bringing the total rig count in the US  to 546 this week, down 36 from this same time last year. The number of active oil rigs stayed at 411 during the latest reporting period, according to the data. This is 68 below this same time last year. The number of gas rigs rose by 3, reaching 125, which is 27 more than this time last year. The miscellaneous rig count slipped by 1 and now is…

Eager to counter a spreading perception of unreliability due to financial woes, Rosatom, Russia’s nuclear energy agency, is trying to double down on its construction promises to build up Uzbekistan’s nuclear energy capacity. Instead of just building reactors, Rosatom is now proposing to create a “nuclear cluster” in Uzbekistan. Rosatom boss Alexei Likhachev reportedly made the offer during a tête-à-tête with Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev on January 27 in Tashkent. The proposed cluster “would…

The OPEC+ group is expected to maintain its oil production policy unchanged this weekend and affirm a pause in output hikes in March even as Brent Crude prices hit $70 per barrel this week for the first time in five months, delegates from the alliance told Reuters on Friday. The OPEC+ group meets online on February 1 to discuss output levels, and it is widely expected to keep oil production levels flat in March, as it had pledged in November to pause hikes for the first quarter. Early this month, the eight OPEC+ members that have been implementing…

Markets looked past rising supply as shifting U.S. rhetoric on Iran and ongoing weather-related disruptions kept risk premiums elevated. Friday, January 30, 2026 Trump’s erratic rhetoric has been greatly supportive of oil prices this week, first promising ‘speed and violence’ to Iran, only to talk about dialogue the next day. The gradual return of Kazakhstan’s shut-in production was not an impediment to see ICE Brent end the week above $70 per barrel, with the bullish sentiment also bolstered by US supply still bearing the…

The global oversupply is set to override geopolitical flare-ups this year, keeping oil prices close to the $60 per barrel mark, the monthly Reuters poll showed on Friday. Brent Crude prices are expected to average $62.02 per barrel in 2026, according to 31 economists and analysts surveyed by Reuters in January. This month’s estimate for the average Brent price this year is higher compared to the December forecast of $61.27. The analysts in the poll expect the U.S. benchmark, WTI Crude, to average $58.72 per barrel in 2026, slightly above…