U.S. exports of liquefied natural gas have been on a record-breaking streak this year, on track to book a 40% annual surge in November, thanks to strong European demand. There is just one problem: this strong demand is fueling higher prices; higher prices are eating into LNG exporters’ profits. When European energy supermajors went after Venture Global, they accused the company of making billions on the spot market while violating its contracts with the supermajors. Venture Global did indeed make billions—and it wasn’t the only…

As U.S. natural gas prices jumped to a three-year high, coal has become a cheaper power-generating fuel for utilities, which are set to run coal-fired generators harder this winter. U.S. benchmark natural gas prices at Henry Hub have jumped from $4.23 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) at the start of November to above $5 per MMBtu by early December. Early on Friday, the front-month futures price was $5.084 per MMBtu. That’s the highest price in three years, as a polar vortex with freezing temperatures and snowstorms gripped most…

There is a rising global interest in extracting much-needed critical minerals from the Arctic to meet the growing needs for various metals and minerals. However, environmentalists are concerned about what impact the exploitation of vast untapped reserves in the region might have on wildlife and the environment. Despite potentially holding huge reserves of critical minerals, several countries have previously avoided mining activities and other invasive actions in the Arctic due to its fragile nature and the wide array of unknown challenges to development.…

The International Energy Agency (IEA) expects a major copper deficit to emerge over the next decade, as demand for the metal rises sharply. Unless global mining for copper is expanded at an accelerated rate, demand could outstrip supply by as much as 30 percent. Meanwhile, several new copper powers are expected to emerge to counter Chinese dominance of the global copper market, with the development of new mining projects. There could be a supply shortage of copper by as much as 30 percent by 2035 as global demand increases, mainly owing to the…

The stock market is hitting record highs. GDP growth is in the green. Tech valuations are defying gravity... fueled by a promise that artificial intelligence is going to generate trillions of dollars in wealth. And yet... everything feels kinda…terrible?  Jobs are disappearing, not in a crash, but in a slow fade. Prices for essentials remain stubbornly high. The divide between the digital economy and physical reality has never been wider.  We are told this is just a transition period. We are told that "efficiency" is messy... but…

Since taking office in January, United States President Trump has spoken out against electric vehicles (EVs), signing an executive order to scrap the “EV mandate” (despite there being no such federal mandate). In recent months, federal support for EVs has waned under the Trump administration, resulting in announcements of delays for several EV-makers due to the ongoing sectoral uncertainty. However, some states are doubling down on efforts to expand their EV markets, with heavy investments in charging infrastructure and other initiatives.…

This week, the US Department of Energy made two substantial financial awards to two SMR builders who each proposed 300 MW units. GE-Hitachi’s BWRX 300 will be built at a TVA facility, Clinch River in east Tennessee, while the two planned Holtec units are for repowering the Palisades nuclear plant in Michigan. The awards are for $400 million apiece with an additional $100 million available for “contingencies”. There were several things that struck us about the DoE’s award, which originated in the Biden administration. First,…

As the spread of renewable energy continues to ramp up around the world, finding more efficient and affordable technologies for energy storage has become a high-priority issue for global energy security. While energy storage addition is making huge strides across the world, leading technologies – most notably lithium-ion batteries – have some critical drawbacks. As a result, the race to find the tech breakthrough to replace lithium-ion batteries is on as “clean energy’s next trillion-dollar business” heats up. …

China’s trade with Central Asian states grew significantly during the first 10 months of 2025, compared with the same period in 2024, according to Chinese government statistics.  Trade turnover with Kyrgyzstan saw the largest spike, rising from $17.4 billion to $23.6 billion. What also makes Kyrgyzstan noteworthy is that, according to Kyrgyz government statistics, the nation’s GDP in the first 10 months of 2025 amounted to about $16.3 billion, meaning that trade with China alone was larger than all the goods…

After several years of stagnation in Mexico’s renewable energy sector, the introduction of more favourable reforms alongside several new solar energy agreements suggests that the Latin American country is pursuing a more diversified energy mix. After several years of energy policy that focused on greater nationalisation, the door is once again open for private participation, which is expected to include the development of several green energy projects and attract investment from various firms worldwide.  Under President Andrés…

Platts just redefined European oil pricing, and it did it with a single line: Russian-crude-derived fuels are out. Beginning Dec. 15 for cargoes and Jan. 2 for barges, any diesel or other oil product that can be traced back to Russian crude will simply not count in the assessments that shape benchmark prices across the region. If that sounds wonky, you’re not alone. This is a material shift in how one of the most influential price setters on the planet defines supply. Historically, Platts has been product-focused. If you offered a cargo of…

Platts just redefined European oil pricing, and it did it with a single line: Russian-crude-derived fuels are out. Beginning Dec. 15 for cargoes and Jan. 2 for barges, any diesel or other oil product that can be traced back to Russian crude will simply not count in the assessments that shape benchmark prices across the region. If that sounds wonky, you’re not alone. This is a material shift in how one of the most influential price setters on the planet defines supply. Historically, Platts has been product-focused. If you offered a cargo of…

The world is filled with financial promises, including loans, pensions, and even the market value of stocks. So far, the system seems to be working, but in a finite world, it is hard to believe that the system will work indefinitely. Governments can create money simply by adding more promises, but they cannot create goods and services in a similar fashion. We know that actual physical materials are needed to make the goods and services that people depend upon. Energy supplies are particularly important in making goods and services because,…

The machinery that powers the modern world, from industrial assembly lines to the cooling systems of data centers, is undergoing a massive, capital-intensive overhaul. According to a new analysis by Allied Market Research, the global electric motor market is projected to reach $373.9 billion by 2032, nearly tripling its 2020 valuation of $142.1 billion. The data reveals a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 9.5% from 2023 to 2032. But beyond the growth percentages, the report outlines a structural change in how the global economy consumes energy. …

The global cyber environment has become a “society wide crisis”, where a recent slew of attacks are threatening the foundation of Western economies, an expert has warned. A year-long avalanche of detrimental attacks on British retailers; Co-op, M&S, and more recently, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR); has pointed to a far deeper concern, Charl van der Walt, head of security research at Orange Cyberdefense, told City AM. Cybercrime, he argued, has become industrialised. Attackers are only multiplying. And trust, in both the private and public…

India’s solar sector has hit that awkward stage of adolescence where ambition seems to be outpacing demand. And now the adults in the room are issuing critical warnings. A new letter from the clean-energy ministry, quietly circulated to the finance ministry, urges lenders to think twice before showering cash on yet another wave of standalone module factories. When a government that spent the last three years cheerleading capacity expansion suddenly says “maybe don’t,” you can assume the oversupply problem is no longer a…

The total number of active drilling rigs for oil and gas in the United States rose this week, according to new data that Baker Hughes published on Friday, after last week’s sharp decline. The total rig count in the US rose by 5 to 549 this week, according to Baker Hughes, down 40 from this same time last year. The number of active oil rigs rose by 6 in the reporting period, according to the data, after falling by 12 rigs in the week prior. Oil rigs are now at 413, which is 69 below this same time last year. The number of gas rigs fell by…

India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) is moving to keep its 20% stake in the Sakhalin-1 oil project in Russia after the Kremlin allowed the Indian state-run company to pay its contribution to the project’s abandonment fund in rubles from the frozen dividends it is due, sources with knowledge of the plans told Reuters on Friday.  ONGC Videsh, the overseas unit of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC), has a 20% interest in the project, but contribution to the abandonment fund, one used for decommissioning…

Digital innovation is rapidly emerging as a defining force for the oilfield services (OFS) sector as it adapts to changing market conditions, creating opportunities for steady, long-term growth. Rystad Energy predicts that in the next five years, the oil and gas industry could save more than $320 billion by further digitalizing operations in five key areas: drilling optimization, autonomous robotics, predictive maintenance, reservoir management, and logistics optimization. The OFS business ecosystem is expected to undergo a significant transformation…

Helped by the newly-issued crude import quotas, China’s independent refiners are buying sanctioned Iranian crude again and raising their processing rates, making room for Iran’s oil to move out of floating and bonded storage and potentially easing the year-end glut on the market.  The independent refiners in China’s Shandong province, the so-called teapots, have been buying cheap Iranian oil from onshore storage in China, including bonded storage, since the Chinese authorities issued a fresh batch of import quotas last week. …