The loss of fertilizer shipments coming from the Persian Gulf as a result of the Iran war got me thinking about the chemist Justus von Liebig, a prominent 19th-century proponent of the mineral theory of plant nutrition. Liebig is the popularizer of what is now known as Liebig's Law of the Minimum. The law states that the least available essential nutrient limits the growth of plants. This means once a grower runs out of one essential nutrient, adding extra of others will not make up for the lack of the one that is limited. Liebig's eponymous law…

18 de mayo de 2026.- La tensión prevalece en el departamento boliviano de La Paz, con sectores movilizados que mantienen puntos de bloqueo en la ciudad de El Alto, en particular en la carretera estratégica hacia Viacha. Desde las primeras horas de este lunes, los manifestantes cerraron el paso en...

Leading clean energy utility, NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE), has agreed to buy Dominion Energy (NYSE:D) in an all-stock transaction valued at $66.8 billion, marking the largest power utility acquisition on record. The merger unites Florida-based NextEra Energy and Virginia-based Dominion Energy to create the world’s largest regulated electric utility, a power sector titan with an enterprise value exceeding $400 billion including debt. The historic consolidation is directly driven by the artificial intelligence infrastructure boom, with high-performance…

18 de mayo de 2026.- El Gobierno de Venezuela exigió públicamente responsabilidad e indemnización al Gobierno de Trinidad y Tobago por el derrame de hidrocarburos que ha afectado las costas venezolanas desde finales del mes de abril. “Hoy exigimos responsabilidad al Gobierno de Trinidad y Tobago ...

As U.S. President Donald Trump landed in Beijing last Wednesday for a two-day summit with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, his aides would have been acutely aware that he had faced extensive criticism in the past for his cosy dealings with the Chinese leader before, especially during his first presidential term. The fact that the summit had been postponed from late March, following the escalation of the war in Iran, will have naturally raised at least one potential topic of conversation, if not two. China remains the key financier -- through…

European airlines are becoming increasingly confident the continent would avoid a jet fuel shortage this summer as refiners maximize jet fuel output and buyers diversify imports to offset supply losses from the Middle East with increased shipments from the U.S. and Nigeria. A month into the Iran war and the Strait of Hormuz crisis, airlines, officials, and analysts started warning that Europe had mere weeks of jet fuel supply and an inevitable crunch would arrive in the middle of May, or by the end of May at the latest. Fatih Birol, executive director…

18 de mayo de 2026.- El Gobierno de Estados Unidos ha acordado la suspensión de las sanciones sobre las exportaciones del petróleo iraní durante las negociaciones que se llevan a cabo con Teherán. De acuerdo con una fuente cercana al equipo negociador de Irán, citada por la agencia Tasnim, Washin...

For years, global LNG markets operated under a fairly comfortable assumption. Qatar would remain a stable supplier, the Middle East would continue functioning as the center of global LNG trade, and buyers in Europe and Asia could rely on long-term contracts to keep gas flowing. That assumption is now under pressure. Damage to energy infrastructure in the Middle East, rising geopolitical instability, and growing concerns about shipping security have injected a new layer of risk into global LNG markets. At the same time, demand is accelerating from…

An Australian trade union is threatening to start a strike at an LNG export facility from May 27, in a two-week-long industrial action that could further tighten the global LNG supply, which is already stretched thin amid the Iran war and the closed Strait of Hormuz. The Offshore Alliance union, the Australian Workers Union, and Maritime Union of Australia, on Monday notified Japanese company Inpex there could be 243 stoppages and work bans at Inpex’s Ichthys LNG facilities between May 27 and June 10, after the unions and the company failed…

La Superintendencia de la Actividad Aseguradora (Sudaseg) informó que las Primas Cobrada Netas de Anulaciones alcanzaron los 176,69 millones de bolívares, acumuladas al 30 de Abril de 2026. La información está reflejada en el Boletín Estadístico Nro. 54 de la institución adscrita al...

Durante la jornada presidencial de este sábado, la presidenta (E) de la República Bolivariana de Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, entregó una importante flota de camiones compactadores destinados a la recolección de desechos sólidos lo que permitirá profundizar las políticas en materia ecosocialist...

Cementos Argos, corporación colombiana que fue la última propietaria privada de la planta de Cemento Andino en el estado Trujillo, restableció «relaciones comerciales activas» con el mercado nacional...

Recent oil price shocks in response to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz underscore the importance of oil-producing countries outside of the Middle East. One of the most important is Brazil, Latin America’s largest economy and oil producer. The country is experiencing an epic decades-long oil boom, which was responsible for production hitting a new record high for March 2026. This places Brazil on track to become a top-five global producer by the end of the decade, making the country important to bolstering energy security in the Americas.…

The U.S. Federal Reserve is set to begin a new era after former governor Kevin Warsh won a highly polarized 54-45 Senate confirmation vote to replace Jerome Powell as the Fed Chair. A close ally of U.S. President Donald Trump, Warsh will face a difficult job balancing complicated policies and conflicting goals. He is also under strong pressure from Trump to cut interest rates, even as inflation rises, partly because of higher oil prices. Oil prices rose again on Monday following Trump’s stark warning to Iran following reports of attacks on…

El portavoz del Kremlin, Dmitri Peskov, afirmó que Rusia está en contacto permanente con Cuba, en medio del bloqueo económico, comercial y financiero impuesto por Estados Unidos. "Ya lo he dicho en repetidas ocasiones: estamos en contacto permanente con nuestros amigos cubanos&...

El viceministro de Políticas Antibloqueo, William Castillo, destacó que la economía venezolana se encuentra en un proceso progresivo de recuperación del daño que provocaron 11 años de medidas coercitivas unilaterales, las mal llamadas sanciones, en el sistema productivo de la nación que afecta...

La empresa Erebor Bank, una novel startup financiera respaldada por Peter Thiel, ha iniciado contactos de alto nivel con funcionarios y banqueros de Venezuela. La firma busca restablecer el acceso de la nación al sistema financiero estadounidense, ofreciendo una vía ágil para el flujo de capit...

The Trump administration has allowed a controversial waiver on sanctions targeting Russian seaborne oil to expire, reimposing restrictions that had temporarily enabled countries such as India to continue purchasing Russian crude despite Western efforts to curb Moscow's wartime revenues. The move, which took effect on May 16 after the Treasury Department declined to renew General License 134B, highlights the increasingly difficult balance Washington faces between tightening pressure on the Kremlin and preventing further disruption to global energy…

Autoridades cubanas denunciaron este domingo que la Administración del presidente estadounidense Donald Trump está empeñada en fabricar una narrativa diseñada para justificar la escalada de sanciones, la guerra económica y una posible intervención militar contra la nación caribeña. ...

Indian oil refiners are structurally equipped to handle potential disruptions after the United States allowed its key sanctions waiver on Russian seaborne crude purchases to expire. Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri recently confirmed that India has built adequate energy buffers to navigate global volatility, with the country holding around 60 days of crude oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) along with 45 days of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) stockpiles. “We have not had any difficulty in getting the crudes which we want,” Hindustan…