I'm shocked, shocked, to find out that the Chinese are stealing America's agricultural technology! It can hardly come as a surprise that the Chinese government actively encourages and organizes the theft of intellectual property from other nations and their companies, in this case, agricultural technology in the United States. College students are some of the most active players in these thefts, as between 250,000 and 300,000 routinely attend U.S. colleges and universities in any given year, most of them studying in scientific and engineering fields.…

OPEC oil output has declined to its lowest level since 2000, with production falling by 830,000 barrels per day (bpd) to an average of 20.04 million bpd in April, according to a Reuters survey published Monday. Kuwait recorded the largest production drop, with reports indicating it exported zero crude in April thanks to its total reliance on the Strait of Hormuz. Saudi Arabia and Iraq also saw significant output decreases as they were forced to shut-in production. Saudi production dropped towards 7 million barrels per day (bpd) following attacks…

Donald Trump arrives in Beijing on Wednesday for his first state visit to China since 2017, heading into a two-day summit with President Xi Jinping that carries more energy-market weight than any bilateral meeting in recent memory. The talks, scheduled for Thursday and Friday, come as the world grapples with what the International Energy Agency has called the “largest supply disruption in the history of the global oil market” — the near-total closure of the Strait of Hormuz following U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran in late February.…

Oil prices rallied on Monday morning after U.S. President Donald Trump rejected Iran’s response to a U.S. peace proposal, “I don’t like it – totally unacceptable,” Trump said in a Truth Social post, quashing hopes for an imminent resolution to the Middle East conflict that kicked off in late February. Brent crude for July delivery was up 1.% to trade at $103.3 per barrel at 9.48 am ET while WTI crude for June delivery gained 1.04% to trade at $96.41/bbl. Last week, the White House offered a one-page, 14-point memorandum…

Fewer passengers were heading to Heathrow Airport in April as the war in the Middle East keeps travellers grounded. Passenger numbers at Europe’s biggest airport fell by five per cent in April to 6.7m with the blame being attributed to the “ongoing impact of the Middle East conflict”. For those heading to that particular region, Heathrow saw a whopping 50 per cent drop in volumes. Still, in the year-to-date (Jan–Apr) traffic maintained modest growth at 1.2 per cent. Transfer demand grew ten per cent in April, as travellers…

The European oil majors with the biggest trading desks raised their trading profits by up to $4.75 billion in the first quarter from the end of last year, amid extreme market volatility driven by the war in Iran. The biggest European majors, BP, Shell, and TotalEnergies, likely earned between $3.3 billion and $4.75 billion more in the first quarter compared to the fourth quarter of 2025, the Financial Times reports, citing estimates from analysts. Big Oil companies do not disclose their trading profits separately from the overall results, but usually…

Capacity installations of renewable energy co-located with batteries for storage are expected to surge in Europe from 6 gigawatts in 2025 to as much as 35 GW by 2030, a new report by Aurora Energy Research showed on Monday. The research examined developments in 20 European markets in terms of attractiveness for co-location, and identified Germany, Great Britain, and Bulgaria as Europe's most attractive co-location investment markets. Germany is the most attractive co-location market, thanks to its sheer size and significant upside potential for…

Capacity installations of renewable energy co-located with batteries for storage are expected to surge in Europe from 6 gigawatts in 2025 to as much as 35 GW by 2030, a new report by Aurora Energy Research showed on Monday. The research examined developments in 20 European markets in terms of attractiveness for co-location, and identified Germany, Great Britain, and Bulgaria as Europe's most attractive co-location investment markets. Germany is the most attractive co-location market, thanks to its sheer size and significant upside potential for…

When lawmakers propose solutions to complex economic problems, the first requirement should be a clear understanding of how those problems actually work. A recent Facebook post by Bernie Sanders comparing today’s oil and gasoline prices to those in 2011 suggests that oil companies are “ripping off” consumers. The logic is straightforward: if oil prices are roughly the same, gasoline prices should be as well. If they aren’t, someone must be taking advantage. It’s an intuitive argument, but it misses important elements…

The Browse LNG project in Australia, proposed by Woodside Energy, is set to cost about $35 billion, a new report commissioned by the Australian oil and gas major showed on Monday. Woodside first proposed the Browse to North West Shelf (NWS) Project to deliver natural gas from the Calliance, Torosa, and Brecknock fields to the existing Karratha Gas Plant back in 2018. Cost estimates as of 2019 pointed to US$20 billion (AUS$27.3 billion) of total investment. However, the project, which has been long delayed due to a carbon capture and storage (CCS)…

Last month, we reported that over $1 billion in "perfectly timed" wagers, spanning both traditional oil futures and digital prediction markets, accurately anticipated major military and diplomatic shifts linked to developments in the Iran-US war minutes before they were publicly announced, raising major suspicion of insider trading. Many suspicious accounts were newly created and only traded on specific Iran-related events with a win rate of up to 93%. Well, the final numbers are in, and the initial report might only have been the tip of the iceberg.…

The last tankers out of the Persian Gulf are reaching their destinations. Strategic reserves are being drained to make up for lost Middle East supply and keep a lid on prices. But there is a problem with this: an emergency response to a crisis is by definition unsustainable. Analysts and energy industry executives are warning that the longer the war in the Middle East continues, the worse the supply situation will become. Global oil inventories are falling at a record pace, media reported earlier this week, with one Kpler analyst noting that “inventory…

China has expanded its cleantech manufacturing capacity so much that industry players are searching for a way to decrease competition to make pricing more realistic and stop smaller producers from falling into debt. However, despite the problem being discussed widely last year, no solution has yet been found. In addition, while forecasts suggest that the Iran war and energy supply chain disruptions will refocus international demand for a green transition, thereby driving up purchases of solar components, this is unlikely to drive a big enough increase…

Russia’s Leningrad Oblast lies some 600 kilometers from the closest corner of Ukraine. But on April 15, its governor declared it a “frontline” region. Part of his explanation: From January through March, a total of 243 Ukrainian drones were shot down over the province, he said. Some drones were not shot down, though. From export terminals on the Gulf of Finland to refineries inland, oil facilities in the region that surrounds St. Petersburg, President Vladimir Putin’s hometown, have been among the hardest hit in an upsurge…

Colombia and the Netherlands co-hosted the first Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels Conference in the coastal city of Santa Marta in Colombia from April 24–29. Several state leaders praised the conference for its explicit focus on reducing reliance on fossil fuels and supporting a global green transition, particularly as the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change’s (UNFCCC) annual COP climate conference has been increasingly critiqued for giving a platform to oil and gas lobbyists.  The UNFCCC has held a COP summit almost…

The Trump Administration is looking for innovative ways to tap more crude from federal lands as the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) is being depleted again by emergency stock releases amid the global supply shock from the Iran war. One of these creative new ways to refill the SPR could be the potential tapping of oil from land at U.S. military bases or other sites of the Department of War, a source with knowledge of private information told Bloomberg this week.     For the second time in four years, the U.S. Administration…

The 2026 U.S.-Israel war on Iran, the Ramadan War, which began with airstrikes on 28 February 2026 and involved Iranian retaliation via missiles, drones, and a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, has indirectly but significantly constrained investment plans by Persian Gulf petrostates, primarily Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar, along with other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members, in Central Asia. These petrostates were not direct belligerents but suffered economic fallout from Iranian strikes on their energy infrastructure,…

Since he came into office in January 2025, United States President Trump has been pushing oil companies to “Drill, baby, drill!” However, despite being given free rein to increase oil production, several oil and gas companies have been cautious of increasing output too much due to volatile energy prices and the huge expense of conducting new exploration and drilling operations. Therefore, countries facing shortages, due to the ongoing geopolitical crisis between the U.S. and Israel with Iran and other Middle Eastern powers, cannot simply…

Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development has signed an agreement with an international consortium to start building out the government’s plan to turn the Central Asian state into a data center hub. The project’s timeline appears to hinge on Kazakhstan’s ability to close an existing power deficit. The ministry’s memorandum of understanding with a consortium led by an entity called JMOT04 Ltd. provides for the construction of a Tier IV data center, the most powerful and reliable classification…

Japan has long been known for its strong automaking industry. However, in recent years, it has come to dominate the global hybrid vehicle market, demonstrating that it can evolve to be competitive as the demand for electric vehicles (EVs) continues to rise. While several other countries, such as China, are also increasing their hybrid output, many markets continue to opt for Japanese models due to their solid reputation for traditional automaking and the inclusion of innovative technologies in new hybrid models. In India, Japanese hybrid vehicles…