The Trump Administration continues to revise, restructure, and cancel billions of U.S. dollars of Biden-era loans and funding commitments to clean energy projects as the United States shifted its policy to supporting fossil fuels and nuclear power as part of its energy dominance agenda. In the latest instalment of canceled or revised funding, the Department of Energy this week announced that the Office of Energy Dominance Financing (EDF), previously known as the Loan Programs Office (LPO), is restructuring, revising, or eliminating more than $83…

Despite President Trump’s big promises of driving down consumer energy bills, the cost of energy actually rose for consumers in 2025. Throughout his electoral campaign and during his first year in office, Trump pledged to slash Americans’ energy bills. However, his new approach to energy seems to have done the opposite, with higher prices expected for 2026 and beyond.  Upon entering office for his second term, President Trump announced a state of energy emergency, quickly passing executive orders to curb the rollout of former-President…

Alongside plans to establish a strong renewable energy sector, Japan aims to redevelop its nuclear energy capacity to boost its power and support its climate goals. However, with memories of the Fukushima nuclear disaster still fresh, many in Japan are worried about the risks involved with developing the country’s nuclear capacity. Nevertheless, the government has big plans for a new nuclear era, commencing with the restarting of the world’s biggest nuclear facility.  The 2011 Fukushima Daiichi accident is viewed as the second-worst…

The global electric vehicle transition is currently being sold as a triumph of mineral procurement and gigafactory scaling... a narrative where lithium mines and nickel refineries are the only hurdles between us and a decarbonized fleet.  But while the industry fixates on the battery, it is ignoring the passive electronic components that must handle the violent throughput of high-voltage energy. The market for EV capacitors has ballooned to $5.32 billion. This growth is a symptom of a technical crisis.  The shift to 800V architectures…

Latin America is catching the eyes of investors worldwide when it comes to mining, as the region has vast critical mineral reserves and low operating costs. The region is home to the “lithium triangle”, as well as vast copper, zinc, and other mineral reserves, making it highly attractive to investors looking to strengthen their supply chains as the global demand for these materials increases. In the first three quarters of 2025, global mining mergers achieved $30 billion, with 74 percent of this value going into Latin America, according…

Between 2000 and 2020, the European Union watched its share of global industrial output slide from 20.8% to 14.3%. This 6.5% gap represents the sound of capital fleeing the high energy costs of the Rhine for the subsidized certainty of the Yangtze and the American South. Now, the European Commission is attempting to legislate a reversal of this decline. The upcoming Industrial Accelerator Act (IAA), now delayed until February 25, is a document of profound anxiety. It’s a pivot toward protectionism that would have been unthinkable in Brussels…

On a global level, solar energy has grown exponentially over the last few decades as costs have plummeted and demand has risen accordingly. It is estimated that the world added a third more solar power in 2025 than it did in 2024, marking a remarkable quantity of added capacity. But while renewables are proving too cheap to fail, there are some notable drawbacks to the rapid addition of these resources – most notably the insufficient co-addition of supportive grid and transmission infrastructure and the variability of solar and wind energy,…

In the first quarter of 2026, the global energy storage market is no longer a playground for visionaries... it is a graveyard for the undercapitalized. The data is rough. As of March 2025, QuantumScape (NYSE: QS) sat on $860 million in cash against a trailing twelve-month burn rate of $331 million. This 2.6-year window is the "valley of death" made manifest in a ledger.  While the early 2020s were fueled by the speculative highs of SPAC mergers and theoretical energy density, the 2026 market has pivoted to "Balance Sheet Engineering." Success…

US naphtha has begun arriving in Venezuelan waters, marking an early and telling step in efforts to restart the country’s long-crippled heavy oil production. Ship tracking data showed a tanker chartered by Vitol reaching Venezuelan waters with the first naphtha cargo tied to a new oil deal between Washington and Caracas. The shipment follows a flagship agreement struck earlier this month after the removal of Nicolás Maduro, allowing Venezuela to sell up to 50 million barrels of crude currently in storage under a $2 billion supply framework.…

The Azerbaijani state energy company SOCAR has announced it is selling natural gas to Austria and Germany. But it remains an open question whether Baku can hit its promised target of delivering 20 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas to the European Union in the near future. Azerbaijani leader Ilham Aliyev, speaking on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, said the new export arrangements bring to 16 the number of countries Azerbaijan supplies with gas, 10 of which are EU members. Yet the announcement sheds little…

Nine northwest European countries are set to commit to speeding up the deployment of offshore wind capacity on Monday, days after U.S. President Donald Trump criticized “money-losing windmills”, which, he said, were partly to blame for Europe’s economic decline. The UK, Ireland, Germany, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Norway will pledge on Monday at the international North Sea Summit in Hamburg, Germany, to accelerate offshore wind power via large-scale cross-border projects, according to a draft declaration…

The total number of active drilling rigs for oil and gas in the United States rose by 1 this week, according to new data that Baker Hughes published on Friday, bringing the total rig count in the US  to 544 this week, down 32 from this same time last year. The number of active oil rigs rose by 1 for the second week in a row during the latest reporting period, according to the data. Oil rigs are now at 411, which is 61 below this same time last year. The number of gas rigs stayed the same at 122, which is 23 more than this time last year. The…

“AGI is here, now.” That’s Sequoia Capital this week, one of Silicon Valley’s most legendary venture firms and a major OpenAI investor, declaring we’ve crossed the threshold into artificial general intelligence. Their post also proclaims, in big bold letters, that they are “Blissfully Unencumbered by the Details”. When Sequoia speaks, the tech world listens. This post has dominated conversations across the AI builder community for days. As a builder, venture investor, and AI scientist myself, I find their…

The acquisition of ChampionX helped the world’s biggest oilfield services provider, SLB (NYSE: SLB), raise its North America revenue by 15% in the fourth quarter versus Q3 despite the softer market in the U.S. shale industry. SLB, which completed the acquisition of chemicals and engineering oilfield services provider ChampionX in the third quarter, saw its North America revenue surge by 26% year-over-year in the fourth quarter, the company said in its Q4 results release on Friday. SLB reported $0.78 earnings per share for the fourth quarter,…

The acquisition of ChampionX helped the world’s biggest oilfield services provider, SLB (NYSE: SLB), raise its North America revenue by 15% in the fourth quarter versus Q3 despite the softer market in the U.S. shale industry. SLB, which completed the acquisition of chemicals and engineering oilfield services provider ChampionX in the third quarter, saw its North America revenue surge by 26% year-over-year in the fourth quarter, the company said in its Q4 results release on Friday. SLB reported $0.78 earnings per share for the fourth quarter,…

Oil prices climbed after President Trump’s Iran rhetoric revived geopolitical risk, pushing Brent above $66 despite limited supply disruption impact.   Friday, January 23, 2026 Kazakhstan’s incessant supply disruptions have been the main talking point this week, however up until Friday there’s been little impact on pricing. No sooner had US President Trump declared the reallocation of naval assets to Iranian shores, warning of an ‘armada’ ready to attack, than ICE Brent futures were storming $66 per barrel again.…

Below-average winter temperatures are driving the fastest pace of withdrawals from natural gas storage in Europe in five years, as heating demand is rising. EU gas storage sites were only 47% full as of January 21, according to the latest data from Gas Infrastructure Europe.   That’s well below the average for the past few years, signaling that Europe will have to import more gas in the summer to replenish storage supplies. Gas withdrawals have accelerated this month amid colder-than-normal temperatures in most of Europe, and the pace…

The European Union has proposed sanctions against Iran's interior minister and 14 other senior officials for their role in a violent crackdown on nationwide protests that erupted in late December, documents obtained by RFE/RL show. Protests erupted on December 28 over economic woes, including currency collapse, but morphed into anti-regime demonstrations that were met with lethal force. The bloc's foreign ministers could adopt the measures, which include asset freezes and visa bans, when they meet in Brussels on January 29. All member states must…

India’s state-owned refiner Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) is set to sign next week an oil supply deal with Brazilian state giant Petrobras for the delivery of 12 million barrels of crude, valued at about $780 million. The signing of the agreement is expected to take place during the India Energy Week 2026 forum, which will be held between January 27 and January 30 in Goa, the Indian government said in a statement on Friday carried by Reuters.   Indian refiners, including BPCL, are looking to diversify their crude supply…

From Monday, January 19, through Thursday, January 22, 2026, WTI crude oil moved on geopolitical noise, U.S. inventory surprises, and shifting demand assumptions. The early week brought geopolitical headlines that traders briefly entertained, but by mid-week, the story was all about supply-side pressure - specifically, those U.S. inventory numbers that just wouldn't quit. The week became an exercise in risk recalibration as headline risks failed to deliver actual supply disruptions. Late Thursday, Light Crude Oil Futures are trading $59.60, up…