Two sailors have died from Monday’s attack on a Saudi oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz, with Riyadh now formally accusing Iran of targeting the Bahri-owned Sidr as Tehran launches a new wave of missile and drone strikes against U.S. bases across the region. Bahri confirmed Wednesday that the two Filipino crew members were killed in the attack. Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry condemned Iran for targeting the tanker and reiterated its rejection of attacks threatening “the security and safety of maritime navigation and global energy…

Two high-level US Trump administration emissaries crashed the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek, holding talks with top Central Asian leaders and disrupting any appearance of unity among the gathering’s attendees.  Leading participants in the SCO summit, including top officials from China, Russia and Iran, sought to strengthen what amounts to an anti-US coalition dedicated to diminishing Washington’s global economic influence. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, for example, pushed a plan to…

The rise in global temperature is on track to soon exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius, likely within the next few years, a new UN Environment Programme (UNEP) report showed on Wednesday. In the best-case scenario, peak temperature rise will reach 1.8 C, the Limiting Overshoot report found. “While the international community has made progress on climate change, global action to cut greenhouse gas emissions has not been fast enough to avoid global warming crossing 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels in the next few years” the UN said in the…

Crude oil inventories in the United States saw a decrease of 4.5 million barrels during the week ending August 28, according to new data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released on Wednesday. The increase brings commercial stockpiles to 424.5 million barrels, according to government data, which are now 1% above the five-year average for this time of year. The EIA’s data release follows API’s figures that were released a day earlier, which reported that crude oil inventories had fallen by 2.6 million barrels in…

Ryanair, the biggest low-fare airline in Europe, on Wednesday lowered its winter traffic target to reduce exposure to high unhedged oil prices, and warned the some of its less well-hedged competitors could struggle to survive this winter amid high fuel costs. Since the Iran war slashed deliveries of crude oil and petroleum products from the Middle East, rising jet fuel prices have eaten into the profitability of all airlines globally. Ryanair is one of the most hedged airlines, with about 80% of fuel costs hedged at $67 per barrel. However, the…

Ryanair, the biggest low-fare airline in Europe, on Wednesday lowered its winter traffic target to reduce exposure to high unhedged oil prices, and warned the some of its less well-hedged competitors could struggle to survive this winter amid high fuel costs. Since the Iran war slashed deliveries of crude oil and petroleum products from the Middle East, rising jet fuel prices have eaten into the profitability of all airlines globally. Ryanair is one of the most hedged airlines, with about 80% of fuel costs hedged at $67 per barrel. However, the…

As Ukraine targets Russia's refineries and fuel shortages worsen across the country, Moscow is now turning abroad to process its oil. Kyiv has knocked out dozens of oil refineries across Russia with drone strikes in recent months to disrupt Moscow's ability to finance and sustain its four-year full-scale war in Ukraine. Russia has already halted exports to curb its fuel crisis and introduced rationing measures. Now, Moscow has struck a deal with a small private refinery in Kazakhstan to use its facility. But experts say the move is unlikely to…

India raised its purchases of Russia’s Far East crude blend ESPO in the first seven months of the year as China backed out of the spot market in the first months of the Iran war and deliveries to India from the Middle East slumped with the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Total exports of the ESPO grade from Russia’s Far Eastern port of Kozmino rose by 6% in January-July from a year earlier, Russian daily Kommersant reported on Wednesday, citing a report by Argus. China remained the key buyer of ESPO crude, but its share of the shipments…

Oil prices climbed once again in early Asian trade on Wednesday as the U.S. and Iran traded strikes in a significant escalation after a month of relative calm.  At the time of writing, WTI had climbed to $91.05 per barrel, trading 0.92% higher on the session, and Brent had risen 1.19% to trade at $95.68. Both benchmarks have now climbed by roughly $5 since hostilities between the two countries renewed. U.S. Central Command (Centcom) reported that it had completed a wave of strikes against “air defense sites, radar systems, maritime assets…

Saudi Arabia’s power stations, desalination plants, factories and farms consume more than 1 million barrels per day of liquid fuel that the kingdom aims to displace by 2030. Natural gas and renewables will provide most of the replacement energy. Nuclear power could reduce domestic oil consumption further after 2030 as electricity demand continues to grow. On July 22, the United States and Saudi Arabia signed a 30-year civil nuclear cooperation agreement, clearing the way for U.S. companies to potentially supply the kingdom with reactors,…

The port of Corpus Christi has become one of two ports selected for a project aimed at integrating small modular reactors in a bid to expand the use of nuclear power in more industries—and propel SMR technology forward. Small modular reactors are all the rage, at least on paper. They can be installed more quickly than conventional nuclear reactors, and their locations can be more flexible. They are also significantly cheaper to build than conventional reactors and can be constructed incrementally to meet the growing energy demand of a site.…

In recent years, the European Union has replaced one critical energy and security vulnerability with another heavy dependence for its green energy ambitions. As the EU has moved to phase out Russian energy imports and reduce the overall dependence on oil and gas, it has rolled out massive renewable energy capacity. But the clean energy transition has become dependent on another global power, which could undermine Europe’s energy security—China.   China Dependence For its renewable energy buildout, the EU has relied on imports of…

Solar energy is going gangbusters. The world is adding photovoltaic solar panels at a blistering rate, shattering its own records year after year, buoyed by a flood of ever-cheaper solar panels out of China. “We have a plentiful and cheap source of electricity that can be built quickly, almost anywhere in the world,” NewScientist wrote in an article published late last year. “Is it fanciful to imagine that solar could one day power everything?” But the growth of solar power is uneven around the globe, with some regions seeing…

The American Petroleum Institute (API) estimated that crude oil inventories in the United States fell 2.6 million barrels in the week ending August 28. In the week prior, US crude oil inventories rose by 4.2 million barrels. Commercial crude oil inventories excluding the SPR have lost just over 48 million barrels over the last twenty weeks, with US crude inventories up 3.1 million for the year, according to API data, kept in check by draws from the SPR. For week ending August 28, another 3.1 million barrels left the SPR to aid commercial inventories,…

The American Petroleum Institute (API) estimated that crude oil inventories in the United States fell 2.6 million barrels in the week ending August 28. In the week prior, US crude oil inventories rose by 4.2 million barrels. Commercial crude oil inventories excluding the SPR have lost just over 48 million barrels over the last twenty weeks, with US crude inventories up 3.1 million for the year, according to API data, kept in check by draws from the SPR. For week ending August 28, another 3.1 million barrels left the SPR to aid commercial inventories,…

The American Petroleum Institute (API) estimated that crude oil inventories in the United States fell 2.6 million barrels in the week ending August 28. In the week prior, US crude oil inventories rose by 4.2 million barrels. Commercial crude oil inventories excluding the SPR have lost just over 48 million barrels over the last twenty weeks, with US crude inventories up 3.1 million for the year, according to API data, kept in check by draws from the SPR. For week ending August 28, another 3.1 million barrels left the SPR to aid commercial inventories,…

A federal judge has allowed antitrust lawsuits accusing some of the biggest U.S. shale producers of coordinating production cuts to keep oil and fuel prices higher to proceed. U.S. District Judge Matthew Garcia in New Mexico rejected efforts by Diamondback Energy, Occidental Petroleum and other producers to dismiss the consolidated litigation. The lawsuits, filed beginning in 2024, allege that producers restrained shale output and ultimately pushed up prices for crude oil, gasoline, diesel and heating oil. Garcia found the plaintiffs had plausibly…

A federal judge has allowed antitrust lawsuits accusing some of the biggest U.S. shale producers of coordinating production cuts to keep oil and fuel prices higher to proceed. U.S. District Judge Matthew Garcia in New Mexico rejected efforts by Diamondback Energy, Occidental Petroleum and other producers to dismiss the consolidated litigation. The lawsuits, filed beginning in 2024, allege that producers restrained shale output and ultimately pushed up prices for crude oil, gasoline, diesel and heating oil. Garcia found the plaintiffs had plausibly…

After years of volatile markets, lithium prices are soaring, and everyone wants a piece. As the battery storage sector goes gangbusters on a global scale, lithium spot prices are seeing a major windfall, with mining companies posting massive profits. As a result, lithium asset dealmaking is also on the rise, and could soon – at long last – put the United States on the map as a key supplier of the ‘white gold.’ The International Energy Agency (IEA) classifies lithium at the highest level of supply risk and price volatility.…

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says Gulf oil producers could bypass the Strait of Hormuz within two years, putting a remarkably short timetable on a pipeline buildout that has accelerated since the Iran war disrupted one of the world’s busiest oil routes. “That will be bypassed in two years,” Bessent said Tuesday during a discussion with Larry Kudlow at the G20 financial meetings in Asheville, North Carolina. He went further, predicting that “the Strait of Hormuz will be like a worthless piece of water” within that…